Georgia O'Keeffe (American, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin 1887–1986 Santa Fe, New Mexico)
Date:
1940
Medium:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm)
Classification:
Paintings
Credit Line:
Alfred Stieglitz Collection, Bequest of Georgia O'Keeffe, 1986
Accession Number:
1987.377.4
Not on view
In 1940, O’Keeffe purchased a house at Ghost Ranch in the Chama River valley of New Mexico. She spent her summers and falls at Ghost Ranch, where she painted the breathtaking views, including these immense red, pink, and yellow striated cliffs that rose up seven hundred feet behind her house. Dotted with green shrubs, the landscape faithfully reproduces the vibrant colors of the American Southwest. The immensity of these geologic outcroppings are emphasized by the tiny patch of blue sky at the top left. Awed by these colorful cliffs, O’Keeffe painted them seven times.
Inscription: Inscribed (on cardboard backing): [five-pointed star]
the artist (1940–d. 1986; her bequest as part of the Alfred Stieglitz Collection to MMA)
New York. An American Place. "Exhibition of Georgia O'Keeffe at An American Place," January 27–March 11, 1941, no catalogue (checklist no. 11; as "Cliffs, Ghost Ranch").
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Georgia O'Keeffe: 1887–1986," November 19, 1988–February 5, 1989, not in catalogue (unnumbered checklist addenda).
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Georgia O'Keeffe: 1887–1986," March 30–June 18, 1989, not in catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Landscape Painting," April–August 13, 1989, no catalogue.
Tulsa, Okla. Philbrook Museum of Art. "The Landscape in Twentieth-Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 14–June 9, 1991, no. 4.
Miami. Center for the Fine Arts. "The Landscape in Twentieth-Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 29–August 24, 1991, no. 4.
Omaha. Joslyn Art Museum. "The Landscape in Twentieth-Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 14–November 10, 1991, no. 4.
Tampa Museum of Art. "The Landscape in Twentieth-Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," December 14, 1991–February 8, 1992, no. 4.
Greenville, S. C. Greenville County Museum of Art. "The Landscape in Twentieth-Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," March 17–May 10, 1992, no. 4.
Madison, Wisc. Madison Art Center. "The Landscape in Twentieth-Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 6–August 2, 1992, no. 4.
Grand Rapids, Mich. Grand Rapids Art Museum. "The Landscape in Twentieth-Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 11–November 8, 1992, no. 4.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Stieglitz and His Artists: Matisse to O'Keeffe," October 13, 2011–January 2, 2012, no. 192.
Georgia O'Keeffe. Georgia O'Keeffe. New York, 1976, pl. 94.
Lisa Mintz Messinger. Georgia O'Keeffe. New York, 1988, pp. 80, 82-83, fig. 60.
Maria Costantino. Georgia O'Keeffe. New York, 1994, pp. 132-33, ill.
Barbara Buhler Lynes. Georgia O'Keeffe: Catalogue Raisonné. New Haven, Conn., 1999, vol. 1, pp. 630-31, no. 997, ill.
Lisa Mintz Messinger. Georgia O'Keeffe. London, 2001, pp. 142-43, fig. 92.
Barbara Buhler Lynes with Russell Bowman. O'Keeffe's O'Keeffes: The Artist's Collection. Exh. cat., Milwaukee Art Museum. New York, 2001, p. 170 (app. 3: "Works Named as Bequests in O'Keeffe's 1979 Will").
Lisa Mintz Messinger inStieglitz and His Artists: Matisse to O'Keeffe. The Alfred Stieglitz Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Lisa Mintz Messinger. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2011, pp. 14, 205, 282, no. 192, ill. (color).
