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Georgia O'Keeffe Museum: Access O'Keeffe
Georgia O'Keeffe
Two Pink Shells/Pink Shell, 1937
Courtesy of Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. Photo: Tim Nighswander/IMAGING4ART
Image: okeeffe_CR920_two-pink-shells-pink-shell_790032.jpg
Georgia O'Keeffe
Two Pink Shells/Pink Shell, 1937
Oil on canvas, 12 x 10 inches
CR No. 920
Gift of The Burnett Foundation and The Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation
1997.4.5
Oil on canvas, 12 x 10 inches
Gift of The Burnett Foundation and The Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation
1997.4.5
CR No. 920

Large pinkish/orange shell that dominates most of the canvas, with a much smaller shell beside it on the lower left. Both are oval in shape and open to their undersides, exposing the dark glossy pink of the inside of a shell. They are nestled on a white cloth or tissue paper that has folds suggesting a depth, as if the objects are in a box. The larger shell is chipped on it's upper left tip.

CR No. 920

Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)

Two Pink Shells/Pink Shell

Source of title: stretcher inscription and backing inscription 1.

Alternate Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)

Shell II

Source of title: Whitney Archive, Downtown Gallery Archive, Abiquiú Notebooks.

The Broken Shell – Pink

Source of title: Whitney Archive, Downtown Gallery Archive, Abiquiú Notebooks.

Selected Exhibition Titles

Broken Shell, Pink
Inaugural Exhibition, 1997, Georgia O'Keeffe Museum (Santa Fe)

Broken Shell, Pink
An Expanding Collection, 1998, Georgia O'Keeffe Museum (Santa Fe)

General Remarks

Whitney Archive indicates, "Painted 1937. See gallery photograph." Pictured in 1937–38 New York (An American Place) Stieglitz installation photograph, see Appendix III, figure 67. (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Inscriptions

Inscriptions: Stretcher:

  1. "Two Pink Shells - 37 (graphite)
  2. OK {5star} (black ink)
  3. "Equal measures / two coats" (graphite)
  4. "#7" (unidentified hand, graphite) Backing:
  5. "Pink Shell" (red graphite)
  6. Stamp: "Georgia O'Keeffe / An American Place / Room 1710— 509 Madison Ave. / New York — N.Y." (Source: Lynes, 1999)
Technique

Oil Painting

Materials

Oil on canvas

Estate of the artist, 1986
The Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation, Abiquiu, N.Mex., 1993
The Burnett Foundation, Fort Worth, Tex., 1996 (partial share)
Gift to the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, 1997
(Source: Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, 2026)

Credits & Rights

© Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

Administrative Information

Version History

Core fields last updated 8/26/2026

Source System ID

19

Other IDs

920, Catalogue Raisonné