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Cow's Skull: Red, White, and Blue

1931
Not on view
Weary of life in the metropolis, O’Keeffe began taking regular retreats to Lake George, New York, and then to New Mexico. After her first extended trip to the Southwest in 1929, her artistic interests shifted from the buildings of New York to the nature of New Mexico. In this work, O’Keeffe isolates a single skull, highlighting its jagged edges, worn surfaces, and bleached color. To O’Keeffe, such bones represented the desert’s enduring beauty and the strength of the American spirit, which is alluded to in the striped background. In 1949 O’Keeffe settled permanently in New Mexico, where she lived until her death in 1986.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Cow's Skull: Red, White, and Blue
  • Artist: Georgia O'Keeffe (American, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin 1887–1986 Santa Fe, New Mexico)
  • Date: 1931
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 39 7/8 × 35 7/8 in. (101.3 × 91.1 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Alfred Stieglitz Collection, 1952
  • Object Number: 52.203
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

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1827. Cow's Skull: Red, White, and Blue

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More Artwork

More Artwork
[Looking from Garage to Studio Door, Abiquiu, New Mexico], Georgia O'Keeffe American, Gelatin silver print
[Looking from Garage to Studio Door, Abiquiu, New Mexico]
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Gray and Brass, John Sloan American, Oil on canvas, American
Gray and Brass
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1907
Margaretha van Haexbergen (1614–1676), Gerard ter Borch the Younger Dutch, Oil on canvas
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ca. 1666–67
[Door and Adobe Wall, Abiquiu, New Mexico], Georgia O'Keeffe American, Gelatin silver print
[Door and Adobe Wall, Abiquiu, New Mexico]
Georgia O'Keeffe
1957–58
Necklace, Meta Overbeck American, Gold, emeralds, Montana sapphires, topazes, enamel, American
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Manufacturer Tiffany & Co.
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