A petunia appears in Georgia O'Keeffe's 1924 painting commonly titled Petunia, No. 2. The work is an early example of her close-up flower paintings, in which a single blossom fills much of the composition and becomes an abstract-looking arrangement of shapes and color.
O'Keeffe began painting flowers on a large scale in the 1920s. She explained that enlarging flowers allowed people to notice details they might otherwise overlook. Petunia, No. 2 is especially associated with the deep violet and blue tones that became prominent in her flower imagery.
The title can cause confusion because O'Keeffe painted many flowers, including poppies, irises, calla lilies, and jimson weeds. “No. 2” identifies the work within a related sequence rather than naming a different plant. The painting dates to 1924, the same year O'Keeffe married Alfred Stieglitz, and it belongs to the period when her floral images became widely recognized.