Which painting did Georgia O'Keeffe create in 1931 using a cow's skull and the U.S. flag's colors?

Georgia O'Keeffe created Cow's Skull: Red, White, and Blue in 1931.

The painting shows a weathered cow's skull set against a vertically divided field of red, white, and blue. O'Keeffe painted it after becoming fascinated by animal bones she found in the New Mexico landscape. The skull's frontal presentation makes it monumental despite the relatively simple composition.

The title explicitly connects the natural object with the colors of the American flag. O'Keeffe often used bones as formal subjects, exploring their contours, surfaces, and stark contrast with the sky rather than treating them only as symbols.

The work belongs to her New Mexico period and is frequently discussed alongside paintings such as Ram's Head, White Hollyhock-Hills. Those titles can be confused because both involve bones and southwestern imagery, but Cow's Skull: Red, White, and Blue is identified by the cow skull and national colors.