The flower in Georgia O'Keeffe's celebrated 1926 painting Black Iris is an iris.
O'Keeffe painted Black Iris in 1926, using close-up forms and dark tones to make the flower occupy much of the composition. The work is often discussed alongside her enlarged flower paintings, which made familiar natural subjects appear monumental and abstract.
Art historians and viewers have frequently offered symbolic interpretations of O'Keeffe's flowers, especially sexual interpretations. O'Keeffe rejected the idea that her paintings should be explained primarily through such readings, arguing that viewers should look carefully at the forms themselves. This tension is an important part of the painting's reception history.
The title identifies the flower directly, but the specific work should not be confused with Black Iris III, another O'Keeffe painting from the same year. Both belong to her iris-related body of work.