Which Georgia O'Keeffe painting shows a white skull against a New Mexico landscape?
Answer
Ram's Head, White Hollyhock-Hills
Answer
Ram's Head, White Hollyhock-Hills
Ram's Head, White Hollyhock-Hills shows a white ram's skull against a New Mexico landscape.
O'Keeffe painted the work in 1935 after collecting animal bones in the desert. The skull is placed prominently in the foreground, while a white hollyhock and distant hills create a layered southwestern setting behind it.
The painting combines two recurring subjects in O'Keeffe's work: natural objects and the broad spaces of New Mexico. She often found bones in the desert and treated them as compelling forms rather than simple symbols of death. Their bleached surfaces and angular shapes contrasted with the region's intense colors.
The title is easy to confuse with Cow's Skull: Red, White, and Blue, another famous bone painting by O'Keeffe. The skull, flower, and hills in this composition identify the ram's-head work.
Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026