Georgia O'Keeffe's 1926 painting Black Iris depicts an iris. The close-up composition enlarges the flower so dramatically that its dark petals become an abstract arrangement of folds and curves.
O'Keeffe painted many flowers in extreme close-up during the 1920s and 1930s. Her method encouraged viewers to look at familiar natural forms with unusual concentration, while critics and later commentators often attached symbolic meanings to the images.
O'Keeffe repeatedly rejected the idea that her flower paintings should be reduced to interpretations about sexuality. She emphasized visual experience, scale, color, and the fact that people rarely took time to observe flowers carefully.
The word iris can refer both to the flowering plant and to the colored part of the eye. In this title, it means the flower. O'Keeffe made several iris paintings, so the year and title help distinguish this work.