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Georgia O'Keeffe Museum: Access O'Keeffe
Georgia O'Keeffe
Cebolla Church, 1945
Courtesy of North Carolina Museum of Art.
Image: okeeffe_CR1103_cebolla-church_863343.jpg
Georgia O'Keeffe
Cebolla Church, 1945
Oil on canvas, 20 1/16 x 36 1/4 inches
CR No. 1103
North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, Gift of the North Carolina State Art Society (Robert F. Phifer Bequest), in honor of Joseph C. Sloane
Oil on canvas, 20 1/16 x 36 1/4 inches
North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, Gift of the North Carolina State Art Society (Robert F. Phifer Bequest), in honor of Joseph C. Sloane
CR No. 1103

A light brown church with a gray-pitched roof stands on an expanse of green earth. Only one side of the church is visible. A low steeple with a white cross atop it protrudes from the church's roof. Two white-trimmed windows offer a glimpse into the dark interior of the church. Stretching out overhead, a smooth blue sky features a few long, thin clouds hovering at the top of the work.

CR No. 1103

Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)

Cebolla Church

Source of title: Whitney Archive, Downtown Gallery Archive, Abiquiú Notebooks, 1946 New York (An American Place) exhibition checklist.

General Remarks

Whitney Archive indicates, "Exam. at Amer. Place, March 1946.... No signature." O'Keeffe wrote: "About thirty miles north of where I live in New Mexico is a small village called Cebolla, with sharply pitched, rusted tin roofs.... The country is one of the poorest areas in the United States and the life of the people is difficult.... So I painted the Cebolla church which is so typical of that difficult life" (Georgia O'Keeffe [1976], unpaginated, text accompanying entry 69). (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Technique

Oil Painting

Materials

Oil on canvas

Created New Mexico, 1945; collection of the artist, Abiquiu, NM; [The Downtown Gallery, New York, NY]; Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH, 1947; [Plaza Galleries, New York, May 14, 1953, no. 100]; [The Downtown Gallery, New York]; Mr. and Mrs. George Kogel, King’s Point, NY, 1956; [Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago]; private collection, Chicago, IL; [Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago, 1971]; [Goodman Gallery, San Francisco, CA, 1972]; [Kennedy Galleries, New York, 1972]; sold to NCMA, 1972.
(Source: NCMA, 2025)

Credits & Rights

© Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

Administrative Information

Version History

Core fields last updated 8/26/2026

Last verified by current collection Nov 12 2025

Source System ID

10166

Other IDs

1103, Catalogue Raisonné