Georgia O'Keeffe painted a pineapple in the 1939 work Pineapple Bud.
Pineapple Bud is a still life that isolates the young central growth of a pineapple. O'Keeffe made the work in 1939, during the period when she was painting and drawing plants, flowers, bones, and other objects in enlarged close-up views. The title identifies the subject as the bud or crown-like center of a pineapple rather than a whole landscape or flower.
The painting belongs to a broader group of O'Keeffe’s works that transform familiar natural objects through scale and cropping. By enlarging a plant part, she encouraged viewers to see its texture and structure as an independent visual subject.
Pineapple Bud can be confused with her many flower paintings because of its centered organic form. Unlike Jimson weed, iris, or canna works, however, its subject is a tropical fruit plant. The title provides the decisive identification.