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Georgia O'Keeffe Museum: Access O'Keeffe
Georgia O'Keeffe
Purple Petunias, 1927
Image: okeeffe_CR592_purple-petunias_793780.jpg
Georgia O'Keeffe
Purple Petunias, 1927
Oil on canvas, 29 3/4 x 35 7/8 inches
CR No. 592
Oil on canvas, 29 3/4 x 35 7/8 inches
Collection:Private Collection
CR No. 592

A large petunia with rippling, velvety purple petals expands out from the center of the composition. The petals glow with a soft, pale blue light and frame a bright green center. Visible around the edges of the flower are slivers of white and red background.

CR No. 592

Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)

Purple Petunias

Source of title: Downtown Gallery Archive, Abiquiú Notebooks.

Alternate Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)

Purple Petunia

Selected Exhibition Titles

Purple Petunia
Georgia O'Keeffe: The Poetry of Things, 1999, The Phillips Collection (Washington, D.C.)

General Remarks

Not recorded Whitney Archive. Abiquiú Notebooks indicates, "Back: O'Keeffe. 'Purple Petunias' – 26? Star" [not verified]. Picture of this subject mentioned in 1934 New York (An American Place) exhibition review in New York Times (1934). (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Inscriptions

Verso: "G. O'Keeffe – / Oct. 1927" (white paint) (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Technique

Oil Painting

Materials

Oil on canvas

(Doris Bry, New York, NY); Private collection, Croton Falls, New York, 1967; William Beadelston, Inc., New York, NY, 1974; Ann Kendall Richards, Inc., New York, NY, 1974; Private collection, Bloomington, Indiana, 1974; (Ann Kendall Richards, Inc., New York, NY, and Richard York Gallery, New York, NY) (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Credits & Rights

© Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

Administrative Information

Version History

Core fields last updated 8/26/2026

Source System ID

8661

Other IDs

592, 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

"Berger Art Conservation, Inc. 4026 Feb. 22, 1974 Vinyl Spray B67" (typed label); "8/63 final surfacing of co-polymer iso and n-butyl methacrylate Refer to #2218" (Fine Arts Conservation Laboratories typed label).