Jasper Johns' Flags I is the perfect image to wave in Trump's face

Created in the Watergate era, Johns’ take on the Stars and Stripes has become the perfect symbol of a scarred nation. Its acquisition by the British Museum is inspired

From a distance, it looks bold and bright, like the very stars and stripes it is representing, an ideal as much as a flag. But come closer and you’ll notice how pockmarked and scarred its surface is, full of mysterious holes as if nibbled by cockroaches. Could there be a more fitting symbol of America right now?

The British Museum has marked the United States’ big vote by announcing its acquisition of Flags I, the screenprint by Jasper Johns that is said to be worth millions. Three years ago, the London venue put this image on the posters and catalogue for an exhibition called The American Dream. That title sounds almost quaint today. Who, at the close of Donald Trump’s first term in the White House, can now utter that phrase without irony? American Dream? Can those words really apply, given that the arrival of this election has been marked by shops and businesses being boarded up, and with Trump making bizarre remarks challenging the sanctity of the poll, threatening the entire democratic process?

Related: Jasper Johns Flags I print worth at least $1m donated to British Museum

Johns said his work might properly be considered an abuse of the printmaking medium

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