The American Pop artist Robert Indiana is perhaps most famous for his text and numerical sculptures, including his iconic LOVE image first produced in 1964. Indiana's work documents the graphic signage of American life while incorporating autobiographical references, using crisp lines and bold color planes. In 1978, after his lease in New York City ended, Indiana moved to the coastal town of Vinalhaven, Maine. The painting Spring (1978) centers an emblem between four arrows suggesting a period of movement. Indiana, who had been in a relationship with the hard edge painter Ellsworth Kelly while living in New York, credits Kelly with having influenced his own style. The 'double K' insignia in the center of the painting could refer to Kelly, or perhaps Jack H. Klein, the owner of the building where Indiana had his studio at 2 Spring Street. The color bars within the circle reference the French and German flags. Both the vertical composition and combination of symbols recall Marsden Hartley's painting, Portrait of a German Officer (1914), an assemblage of symbols and patterns which honored a romantic interest in the German lieutenant who died during the First World War.