Black Iris is Georgia O'Keeffe's 1926 close-up painting of a dark iris flower.
O'Keeffe enlarged flowers so dramatically that viewers could focus on their folds, curves, and tonal transitions rather than identify them only as small botanical objects. Black Iris is one of the works most often associated with this aspect of her career. Its dark central forms and layered petals create an image that is both recognizable as a flower and strongly abstracted.
O'Keeffe rejected the idea that her flower paintings should be reduced to erotic interpretations. She explained that people rarely took time to look closely at flowers, so she painted them large to make viewers notice them. Black Iris is also sometimes confused with her related flower paintings Red Canna and Jimson Weed, White Flower No. 1.