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Oil on canvas, 36 x 48 inches
CR No. 1148
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National Gallery of Art, Washington, Anonymous Gift, 2021.58.1
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The elegant, simplified form of a blackbird hovers at the top center of the composition above two white hills that come together in a V-shape. The sky behind the bird fades from bright blue at the top of the image to white near the horizon.
CR No. 1148
Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)
A Black Bird with Snow-Covered Red Hills
Source of title: backing inscription, Downtown Gallery Archive, Abiquiú Notebooks.
General Remarks
Not recorded Whitney Archive. O'Keeffe wrote: "One morning the world was covered with snow. As I walked past the V of the red hills, I was startled to see them white. It was a beautiful early morning—black crows flying over the white. It became another painting—the snow–covered hills holding up the sky, a black bird flying, always there, always going away" (Georgia O'Keeffe [1976], unpaginated, text accompanying entry 86). (Source: Lynes, 1999)
Inscriptions
Stretcher: inaccessible Verso: inaccessible Backing:
- "A Black Bird with Snow / Covered Red Hills / 1946 / Oil / 36 x 48 / canvas / Baker 6142" (OICR, black ink) (Source: Lynes, 1999)
Technique
Oil Painting
Materials
Oil on canvas
1987–1989
National Gallery of Art (NGA)
Art Institute of Chicago
Dallas Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met)
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
(Doris Bry [1920-2014], New York).[1] Susan and David Workman, New York.[2] (Kraushaar Galleries, New York). (Kennedy Galleries, New York, by 1977); private collection; gift 2021 to NGA. (Source: NGA, 2025)
[1] The provenance is adapted from Lynes, 1999.
[2] A label from the back of the painting names the couple as lenders to the 1970 retrospective exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
© Georgia O'Keeffe Museum
Version History
Core fields last updated 8/26/2026
Last verified by current collection Dec 09 2025
Source System ID
10236
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Georgia O'Keeffe. A Black Bird with Snow-Covered Red Hills, 1946. Access O’Keeffe, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, https://access-ok.okeeffemuseum.org/object/10236.