What was the title of Georgia O'Keeffe's 1935 painting of a white hollyhock above desert hills?
Answer
Ram's Head, White Hollyhock—Hills
Georgia O'Keeffe's 1935 painting of a white hollyhock above desert hills is titled Ram's Head, White Hollyhock—Hills.
The painting combines several subjects that became strongly associated with O'Keeffe: a bleached animal skull, a large flower, and the expansive New Mexico landscape. Its composition places the ram's skull and hollyhock against distant hills, creating a sharply organized image rather than a naturalistic scene.
O'Keeffe frequently collected bones and found them in the desert. She explained that she liked the way bones appeared against the landscape and treated them as beautiful, durable forms. The title's punctuation and capitalization are part of the work's commonly recorded title.
This painting is sometimes confused with her flower-only works, such as Jimson Weed or Black Iris. Those pictures belong to related parts of her career, but Ram's Head, White Hollyhock—Hills is distinctive because it unites a skull, flower, and hills in one composition.