Which O'Keeffe painting from 1931 shows a cow's skull against red, white, and blue?

Georgia O’Keeffe’s 1931 painting of a cow’s skull against red, white, and blue is Cow’s Skull: Red, White, and Blue.

The oil painting places a bleached cow skull at the center of a stark composition with bands of red, white, and blue. O’Keeffe made it after becoming deeply interested in the bones and weathered objects she encountered in New Mexico.

The work is often discussed as an American image, but it does not function like a straightforward patriotic illustration. The skull’s severe form, the empty space, and the colors create a complex mixture of landscape, mortality, national symbolism, and formal design. O’Keeffe repeatedly returned to bones as subjects rather than treating them merely as incidental objects.

The title is sometimes shortened in casual references, which can lead to confusion with her other skull paintings. “Ram’s Head, White Hollyhock-Hills” and “Pelvis with the Distance” are separate works from related periods and should not be substituted for this title.