The Museum of Modern Art in New York has just acquired the original rainbow flag, designed by artist Gilbert Baker.

Back in 1978, Baker used the sewing skills he developed as a local drag queen—and the help of 30 volunteers—to make the first two rainbow flags, which were hung at the Gay Community Center in San Francisco.

Here's a breakdown of what each color represents. (The flags original design included hot pink, to represent sexuality, but Baker ran out of dye so it was nixed.)

MoMA’s Inside/Out blog interviewed Baker, who explains the origin of his iconic design:

“I began to notice the American flag — which is where a lot of the rainbow flag comes from.

All of a sudden [I saw] the American flag everywhere — from Jasper Johns paintings to trashy jeans in the Gap and tchotchkes. And I thought, a flag is different than any other form of art. It’s not a painting, it’s not just cloth, it is not just a logo — it functions in so many different ways.

I thought that we needed that kind of symbol, that we needed as a people something that everyone instantly understands. [The rainbow] doesn’t say the word ‘Gay,’ and it doesn’t say ‘the United States’ on the American flag, but everyone knows visually what they mean.

That influence really came to me when I decided that we should have a flag, that a flag fit us as a symbol, that we are a people, a tribe if you will.

Gilbert says the concept took off because "flags are about proclaiming power," and that's just what the nascent gay rights movement was doing.

h/t: World of Wonder