Upharsin belongs to a group of expressionistic heads painted in 1955 and 1956. The heavily textured surfaces of these paintings, created by mixing sand and gravel into his oil paint, reflect the influence of Jean Dubuffet's work, which Indiana had seen in a 1952 exhibition at the Arts Club of Chicago.
Originally titled Portrait of Paul Sanasardo, the painting's subject was a friend of Indiana's from the Art Institute of Chicago and one of his few early contacts in New York. Paul Sanasardo, a dancer and choreographer, hosted one of Indiana's earliest exhibitions, a three-man show with Stephen Durkee and Richard Smith, in 1961 at his Studio for Dance. In 1992, Indiana returned to this painting, stenciling the word “upharsin” above the head and retitling it. The word “upharsin” comes from the story of Belshazzar's Feast in the Book of Daniel, Chapter 5, in which a mysterious hand writes “Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin” on the wall.