Black Iris is the 1926 Georgia O'Keeffe painting famous for its enlarged black iris flower.
The painting magnifies the flower so that its curving petals and dark central forms fill the composition. O'Keeffe repeatedly enlarged flowers in her work, encouraging viewers to look closely at shapes that might otherwise be overlooked.
The subject led some critics and viewers to interpret her flower paintings as sexual imagery. O'Keeffe rejected the idea that critics could reduce the works to Freudian readings and emphasized her interest in visual form, color, and scale.
Black Iris is sometimes confused with later works carrying related titles, including Black Iris III. O'Keeffe produced multiple iris paintings, so the year and exact title are important when identifying this particular 1926 work.