Skip to main content
Georgia O'Keeffe Museum: Access O'Keeffe
Georgia O'Keeffe
Mesa and Road East, 1952
Courtesy of Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. Photo: Tim Nighswander/IMAGING4ART
Image: okeeffe_CR1234_mesa-and-road-east_786541.jpg
Georgia O'Keeffe
Mesa and Road East, 1952
Oil on canvas, 26 1/16 x 36 inches
CR No. 1234
Gift of The Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation
2006.5.234
Oil on canvas, 26 1/16 x 36 inches
Gift of The Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation
2006.5.234
CR No. 1234

A winding road enters the scene from the base of the canvas in the center. It curves to the right before weaving off into the distance to the left. A large, dark-colored mesa rises from the right side of the work, its hills sloping down towards the left. Several trees dot the landscape in the foreground. The sky is largely filled with clouds, with just a sliver of blue visible along the upper edge of the work.

CR No. 1234

Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)

Mesa and Road East

Source of title: backing inscription1, Downtown Gallery Archive.

Alternate Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)

Mesa and Road to the East No. 1

Source of title: Abiquiú Notebooks, Whitney Archive in 1969.

General Remarks

Whitney Archive in 1969 indicates, "Miss O'Keeffe told me 6/2/70 that this and Mesa and Road to the East II and Easter Sunrise were all views from her house in Abiquiú of the road past the house, facing East. She said that these 3 were the source of The Winter Road, 1963." See cat. nos. 1235,1266, 1477. Backing inscription dates 1953. Whitney Archive dates 1953. Downtown Gallery Archive, Abiquiú Notebooks, Whitney Archive in 1969 date 1952. Dated 1952 on basis of O'Keeffe letter: "Today I have sent you four paintings to express. Mesa and Road East 52..." (O'Keeffe to Edith Halpert, 8 August 1953, Archive of American Art). See cat. nos. 1253–60, 1266, 1491, 1998. (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Inscriptions

Inscriptions: Stretcher: inaccessible Verso: inaccessible Backing:

  1. "Mesa and Road East - 53" (graphite)
  2. "Georgia O'Keeffe / Abiquiu, N.M." (graphite) (Source: Lynes, 1999)
Technique

Oil Painting

Materials

Oil on canvas

Estate of the artist, 1986
Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation, 1993
Gift to Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, 2006
(Source: Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, 2025)

Credits & Rights

© Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

Administrative Information

Version History

Core fields last updated 7/22/2026

Source System ID

1035

Other IDs

1234, Catalogue Raisonné