Robert Indiana kept a series of illustrated journals during the late 1950s and 1960s, in which he discusses the development of his work as well as his daily life on Coenties Slip.

This journal page includes entries for July 15–16, 1959, and July 15, 1960. In his first entry, for July 15, 1959, Indiana simply records "Rain • Still lifes indoors • Hall down • J. [his partner, fashion designer John Kloss] comes late."

This is followed by his entry for July 15, 1960, in which Indiana discusses working on Agadir, recording that the painting "becomes black today," and that he spent the whole afternoon on the transformation. He also notes that the circles changed slightly, making Agadir very much a companion to The Image of Man (later retitled The Triumph of Tira). Next to a sketch of the work he notes the colors (Mars/lamp [blacks]) and medium (oil on canvas). A comment added at a later date indicates that the work became the American Dream (later retitled The American Dream, I). Besides painting Indiana mentions receiving two phone calls, having dinner with the art dealer Rolf Nelson, finding a great gingko leaf in Jeannette Park, and that Nelson and Kloss were up until two in the morning making themselves swimsuits. 

In his entry at the bottom of the page, for July 16, 1959, Indiana records that a painting fell in the middle of the night, damaging several of his plants, in particular the aloe, and that the day's activities included a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and a quick dinner with Kloss.