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Georgia O'Keeffe Museum: Access O'Keeffe
Georgia O'Keeffe
Flower Abstraction, 1924
Courtesy of Whitney Museum of American Art.
Image: okeeffe_CR458_flower-abstraction_858539.jpg
Georgia O'Keeffe
Flower Abstraction, 1924
Oil on canvas, 48 1/8 x 30 inches
CR No. 458
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; 50th Anniversary Gift of Sandra Payson
Oil on canvas, 48 1/8 x 30 inches
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; 50th Anniversary Gift of Sandra Payson
CR No. 458

Pale pink, purple, and orange overlapping forms create a V-like shape similar to petals opening to reveal the center of a flower. Inside the V shape are small, rounded forms that resemble soft clouds. Running down the center of the composition is a rippling stripe of white paint.

CR No. 458

Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)

Flower Abstraction

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

Alternate Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)

Flowers Abstraction

Abstraction

General Remarks

Whitney Archive, Abiquiú Notebooks indicate, "Exam. at Amer. Place, April 1946" [note of inscriptions 1 and 3]. Whitney Archive indicates, "Pale pinks, blues, greens. Probably No. 130 'Abstraction' in 7 Americans exh. at Anderson Gals, March 1925." Abiquiú Notebooks notes backing inscription 2. Backing inscriptions 3, Whitney Archive, Downtown Gallery Archive, Abiquiú Notebooks date 1924. Backing inscription 2 dates 1925. Dated 1924 on basis of inclusion in 1925 New York (Anderson) exhibition. Reproduced and titled Abstraction White Iris in Expressionism in Art (1934). (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Inscriptions

Stretcher: inaccessible. Verso: inaccessible. Backing: 1. OK {5star} (graphite) 2. "O'Keeffe / 1925" (Alfred Stieglitz, graphite) 3. "Flowers Abstraction 1924 / by / Georgia O'Keeffe" (William Einstein, Label: stamped, "An American Place / Room 1710— 509 Madison Ave. / New York, — N.Y." (blue-bordered), black ink) (Source: Lynes, 1999)

On backing board lower left in graphite: Georgia O'Keeffe/ 1925

Label on back of canvas: WMAA, Georgia O'Keeffe Retrospective Exhibition, October 8 - November 29, 1970

Label on back of canvas: San Francisco Museum or Art, Georgia O'Keeffe Retrospective, March 19 - April 25, 1971

Label on back of canvas: An American Place, Room 1710-509 Madison Avenue, New York City, NY, Flower Abstraction

(Source: Whitney Museum of American Art, 2025)

Technique

Oil Painting

Materials

Oil on canvas

1924-1981 collection of the artist; 1981-1985 collection of Sandra Payson, New York, New York (purchased from the artist); 1981-1985 Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (partial gift of Sandra Payson); 1985 Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (gift of Sandra Payson)
(Source: Whitney Museum of American Art, 2025)

Credits & Rights

© Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

Administrative Information

Version History

Core fields last updated 4/22/2026

Last verified by current collection Sep 15 2025

Source System ID

8546

Other IDs

458, Catalogue Raisonné