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Georgia O'Keeffe Museum: Access O'Keeffe
Georgia O'Keeffe
Black Iris, 1926
Image: okeeffe_CR556_black-iris_824378.jpg
Georgia O'Keeffe
Black Iris, 1926
Oil on canvas, 16 x 12 inches
CR No. 556
Oil on canvas, 16 x 12 inches
Collection:Private Collection
CR No. 556

A dark purple and gray iris, supported by a dark green stem, fills the composition. The background of the composition is textured like a crumpled piece of paper and rendered in tones of bluish gray.

CR No. 556

Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)

Black Iris

Source of title: Whitney Archive, Downtown Gallery Archive, Abiquiú Notebooks, backing inscription 1.

Alternate Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)

The Dark Iris No. I

General Remarks

Whitney Archive indicates, "Exam. at Amer. Place, March 1946 [notes inscription 2]. . . . Note: Georgia O'Keeffe calls this 'Black Iris.' Small purple iris with green stem." O'Keeffe wrote: "For several years I looked for the black iris at the time it should bloom. I could only find it in New York flower shops for about two weeks in the spring and I painted it many times –– year after year" (Georgia O'Keeffe [1976], unpaginated, text accompanying entry 30). (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Inscriptions

Stretcher: inaccessible. Verso: inaccessible. Backing: 1. "Black Iris / by Georgia O'Keeffe" (Alfred Stieglitz, graphite) 2. Label: printed, The Intimate Gallery (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Technique

Oil Painting

Materials

Oil on canvas

(Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico); Private collection, Dallas, Texas, 1985 (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Credits & Rights

© Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

Administrative Information

Version History

Core fields last updated 5/20/2026

Source System ID

8628

Other IDs

556, Catalogue Raisonné