Three Oranges references Sergei Prokofiev’s 1919 satirical opera, The Love for Three Oranges, which premiered at the Chicago Lyric Theater on December 30, 1921. It is one of three Indiana paintings, alongside Mozart (1966) and Beethoven (2000), whose subject is a classical composer. Unlike the other two paintings this work does not include the composer's name.
Indiana was a fan of classical music, and oftern referenced what he was listening to in his journals. In his journal entry for January 24, 1959, he mentioned listening to works by two of the above composers (Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kijé and Beethoven's Fourth Symphony) on the radio, refering to it as "divine" music.