What is the title of Georgia O'Keeffe's 1931 painting of a cow skull?

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Georgia O'Keeffe’s 1931 cow-skull painting is titled Cow's Skull: Red, White, and Blue.

The work places a bleached cow skull against a background associated with the colors of the American flag. O'Keeffe found bones and other natural forms in the New Mexico landscape and used them repeatedly as subjects after spending time there.

The painting is often discussed as both a landscape-related work and a symbolic image of the American Southwest. O'Keeffe did not treat the skull simply as a still-life prop; she enlarged and isolated it so that its contours became the dominant visual structure.

This work is distinct from Ram's Head, White Hollyhock-Hills, another famous painting that combines a skull with a New Mexico landscape. The animals and titles are different, even though both works belong to her bone paintings.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

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