The four panels of The Seasons explore artifacts and seasonal symbols to represent the epochs of life and the cycles of growth and aging. The work reviews many motifs used previously in Johns's work - e.g. the arm in a partial circle rotates like a clock through these panels. Optical illusions such as duck/rabbit or old woman/young woman in "Spring" explore the nature of seeing and experience. In "Fall," a profile of Marcel Duchamp (a spiritual and artistic mentor to Johns) is included next to a skull and crossbones from a Swiss sign warning of avalanche danger, a reminder of mortality. The Seasons also incorporates elements of more reflective imagery that emerged in his work in the 1980s. A scaled down version of the artist's own shadow refers to Johns's meditation on his own path.
