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Georgia O'Keeffe Museum: Access O'Keeffe
Georgia O'Keeffe
Petunias, 1925
Courtesy of Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
Image: okeeffe_CR491_petunias_863460.jpg
Georgia O'Keeffe
Petunias, 1925
Oil on hardboard, 18 x 30 inches
CR No. 491
Gift of the M.H. de Young Family to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Oil on hardboard, 18 x 30 inches
Gift of the M.H. de Young Family to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
CR No. 491

A cluster of purple petunias with velvety leaves contrast with the plain gray background of this landscape-oriented composition. A large, central flower is framed by smaller blooms and buds seen at varying angles.

CR No. 491

Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)

Petunias

Source of title: Whitney Archive, Downtown Gallery Archive, Abiquiú Notebooks, backing inscription 2.

General Remarks

Whitney Archive, Abiquiú Notebooks indicate, "Exam. at Amer. Place, April 1946" [note of backing inscription 2]. Whitney Archive indicates, "Note: O'Keeffe says painted about this time [1925]. The ptg. was sold to a man on the staff of McCall's and was returned to her for safekeeping. She does not remember the man's name." Titled Blue Petunias in McCall's (May 1927). (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Lynes publication lists medium as 'Oil on board'. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco lists as 'Oil on hardboard'. (Source: Information provided for Access O'Keeffe by Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 2025)

Inscriptions

Verso: 1. "Georgia Okeeffe / Sumer 1925" (black paint) 2. "Stieglitz # Q" (George Of, graphite). Backing: OK {circle} (graphite) 2. "Petunias by Georgia O'Keeffe / 1925. / Signed on back / of painting by / artisit" (Alfred Stieglitz, Label: printed, The Intimate Gallery, black ink) (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Technique

Oil Painting

Materials

Oil on hardboard

the artist
[The Intimate Gallery, [1925–1929}]–label on back
{[New York, An American Place, 1929–1946]}
[New York, The Downtown Gallery, Oct. 1946–May 1949]
the artist
[Doris Bry, New York, by 1969]
[Robert Miller Gallery, New York, ca. 1975]
Esther Johnson Oldwich, N.J., ca.1975–1990
[Richard York Gallery, New York, 1990] sold to
The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Dec. 1990.
(Source: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 2025)

Credits & Rights

© Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

Administrative Information

Version History

Core fields last updated 3/30/2026

Last verified by current collection Oct 06 2025

Source System ID

8576

Other IDs

491, Catalogue Raisonné

Conservation

Information is from the most recently submitted report, please contact the current owner to verify updated details.
REPORT NOTES

Published with corresponding artwork entry in Georgia O’Keeffe: Catalogue Raisonné (Lynes, 1999), this historical conservation information documents treatment decisions made during the artist’s lifetime. Lynes quotes information found on backing labels, and, when noted, from other sources.

CONDITION NARRATIVE

"Painting has been varnished in 1969" (Bry typed label).