Murakami's Flowers: Meaning, Colour and the Many Forms of a Smile
A round face with a wide smile, surrounded by twelve rainbow petals: Takashi Murakami's flower is cheerful at first sight and more complicated the longer you look. Repeated in their hundreds across canvases, prints, cushions and sculpture, the flowers are the signature of Superflat and of the studio Kaikai Kiki.
What the flowers mean
Murakami trained in nihonga, traditional Japanese painting, before turning to contemporary art. His flowers draw on the flat colour and pattern of Japanese painting and on the cute, or kawaii, imagery of anime and character goods. He has described them as smiling on the surface while carrying an undertone of anxiety, a reflection of post-war Japan's relationship with consumer culture. The smile is deliberate, and so is its insistence.
The forms they take
- Paintings: unique works, often enormous fields of flowers.
- Offset prints: signed and numbered by hand, usually in editions of 300. Square and circular formats are both common.
- Flower Ball: spheres of flowers rendered in three dimensions, in prints and sculpture.
- Cushions and plush: licensed goods, widely loved and collected separately from the art.
- Sculpture and multiples: editioned objects in various sizes.
Reading colour
Flowers appear in full rainbow, in monochrome, in gold and silver leaf and in seasonal palettes. Prints with metallic inks, silver or gold, are particularly sensitive to light and handling. Check them closely for scuffs and fading.
What to check on a print
- Hand signature and edition number in the margin.
- Embossing or studio stamps where applicable.
- Flat paper without creases, dents or waves.
- Original packaging, which many Japanese collectors keep.
Questions collectors ask
Are Murakami's flowers based on a real flower?
No. They are a stylised invention, closer to a character than to botany.
Is a flower cushion an artwork?
It is a licensed object. Signed, numbered editions are the artworks in market terms.
Why are so many prints sold in Japan?
Many editions were released there first, and collectors in Japan tend to keep them unframed and boxed, in excellent condition.