The sculpture is based on the artist's original 1965 Christmas card design for MoMA, in which the majuscule letters of the word “love” are arranged in a 2×2 square, LO atop VE, and the O tilted to align with the diagonal of the square.LOVE, MoMA: The Collection. Retrieved 30 January 2010. MoMA's commission for the card came one year after Indiana had designed similar Christmas cards for close friends.
