Take a long look at this painting. What is the first thing you notice? It may be the flags flying high above a crowded street. The artist emphasized the flags by making some very large and placing three in the center of the painting. Look at how small the people in the street below appear to be in comparison.

This is a painting of Fifth Avenue in New York City in the early 1900s. After seeing a parade there in 1916, the artist F. Childe Hassam was inspired to paint a series of pictures like this one. Around this time, Fifth Avenue was often decorated with flags from many different countries for parades and other events. 

Some of the flags Hassam saw on Fifth Avenue are included in this painting. New Zealand's flag is red, white, and blue and has an eight-pointed star on its top left corner. Can you find it? A Brazilian flag waves in the middle of the painting. It has a large yellow diamond with a circle in the center. Just beyond Brazil's flag is the flag of Belgium. It consists of three broad stripes. The United States flag is included in the distant background.

Colors and shapes on flags hold special meaning. The flag of the United States has fifty white stars that stand for the fifty states in the union. The thirteen red and white stripes on the flag stand for the thirteen original colonies.

You can see this painting in the American art galleries on the second level of the Art of the Americas Building at LACMA.

Search Collections Online for other works of art by artist F. Childe Hassam.

F. Childe Hassam (United States, 1859-1935), Avenue of the Allies: Brazil, Belgium, 1918, oil on canvas, 36 5/16 x 24 5/16 in., Mr. and Mrs. William Preston Harrison Collection, 29.18.1, photo © 2004 Museum Associates/LACMA.