This work belongs to Indiana's 1962 Polygon series, small paintings featuring a numeral from 3 to 12 placed inside a polygon of the corresponding number of sides (i.e. 3-Triangle, 4-Square, etc.). The series features extensive wordplay, with references that are playful, personal, literary, and alliterative. The serial nature of these works and their small scale allowed Indiana to experiment with new and bold color combinations previously unseen in his work.
Polygon: Hexagon was recorded in Indiana's journal entry for January 3, 1962, where he wrote alongside a drawing of the painting “which I intend to be primarily a green [painting].” In the end it was painted in black, red, and yellow, a color combination that featured heavily in Indiana's work of 1962 (as seen in works such as The Eateria, The Dietary, and the “Die” panel of The Green Diamond Eat/The Red Diamond Die).
A serigraph, based on this painting, was included in 1964 for the portfolio Ten Works by Ten Painters, created to benefit the Wadsworth Athenaeum in Hartford, Connecticut.