What type of object inspired Georgia O'Keeffe's 1936 painting Summer Days?

An animal skull inspired Georgia O'Keeffe's 1936 painting Summer Days.

Summer Days presents a large bleached skull with long horns against a colorful New Mexico landscape. O'Keeffe frequently collected and painted bones she found in the desert, treating them as striking natural forms rather than merely as symbols of death. Their sculptural shapes and weathered surfaces allowed her to explore line, volume, and the contrast between permanence and changing landscape.

Her interest in bones became especially visible in works made during her New Mexico years. Cattle, sheep, and other animal remains appeared in several paintings, sometimes paired with flowers, clouds, or distant mountains. This subject matter is separate from the more familiar flower paintings for which she is also known.

Summer Days is therefore not a painting inspired by a seashell or feather. The skull is part of a broader group of desert objects that O'Keeffe transformed through close observation and enlarged scale.