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Oil on canvas, 30 1/8 x 40 1/16 inches
CR No. 1503
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Gift of The Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation
2006.5.392
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The viewer appears to be looking at the canyon from an unusual angle, perhaps from below. The image could also be the reflection of the cliffs on the surface of the river. Cliffs rise from all sides, and a triangular patch of light sky fills the center of the image.
CR No. 1503
Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)
On the River I
Source of title: Abiquiú Notebooks after 1977.
Alternate Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)
Canyon Country III
Source of title: Abiquiú Notebooks.
General Remarks
Double entries Abiquiú Notebooks. Not recorded Whitney Archive, Downtown Gallery Archive. Backing inscription 2 may indicate preparatory work. See cat. nos. 1555–76. (Source: Lynes, 1999)
The painting features sandstone hues swirling around a patch of bright pink sky and is part of a series of paintings she completed in Glen Canyon. O’Keeffe often claimed that a good abstract work could be orientated as either a horizontal or vertical. In her records, “The Abiquiú Notebooks,” which include black and white photographs of each work, she or one of her assistants under her instruction often wrote “top” and “bottom” on the verso of these images. On the River I was oriented as a horizontal in her records and thus according to her preference in the Lynes publication. Examination of the work by the Museum’s Head of Conservation, Dale Kronkright, shows handing hardware on all stretcher bars. which occurs on many works, especially those completed late in her career. It suggests that the work may have once been oriented as a vertical. It is orientated in both ways in Access O’Keeffe to accommodate O’Keeffe’s preference as well as that she once may have thought of it as a vertical, thus proving her point that a good abstract work can be oriented as either a vertical or horizontal. (Source: O'Keeffe Museum, 2026)
Inscriptions
Inscriptions: Stretcher: inaccessible Verso: inaccessible Backing:
- "AIV" (black in)
- "Aug 59" (graphite)
- "V" (black ink)
- "Canyon Country 3" (Juan Hamilton, black ink) (Source: Lynes, 1999)
Technique
Oil Painting
Materials
Oil on canvas
2010–2011
2011–2012
2022–2023
Estate of the artist, 1986
Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation, 1993
Gift to Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, 2006
(Source: Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, 2025)
© Georgia O'Keeffe Museum
Version History
Core fields last updated 6/10/2026
Last verified by current collection
Source System ID
1056
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Georgia O'Keeffe. On the River I, ca. 1965. Access O’Keeffe, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, https://access-ok.okeeffemuseum.org/object/1056.