Georgia O'Keeffe painted poppies in her 1927 work Oriental Poppies.
Oriental Poppies shows two large red-orange flowers against a dark ground. O'Keeffe's treatment makes the blossoms fill most of the composition, emphasizing their color, layered petals, and sculptural centers. The painting is a prominent example of her early flower imagery.
O'Keeffe began making enlarged flower paintings in the 1920s, when she was living and working in New York. The works were not botanical illustrations in the scientific sense. Instead, she used close views and simplified forms to make viewers focus on shapes and color relationships that might otherwise be overlooked.
The title identifies the flowers as oriental poppies, a cultivated poppy type known for large, vivid blooms. Oriental Poppies should not be confused with O'Keeffe paintings such as Black Iris or Red Canna, which feature different flowers. Her flower subjects varied widely, but poppies are especially recognizable in this 1927 composition.