Charles Demuth (1883 - 1935)

Charles Demuth, I Saw the Figure Five in Gold, 1928

The painting is a tribute to the poet William Carlos Williams and takes its title from Williams' poem The Great Figure (1916):

Among the rain
and lights
I saw the figure 5
in gold
on a red
firetruck
moving
tense
unheeded
to gong clangs
siren howls
and wheels rumbling