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Georgia O'Keeffe Museum: Access O'Keeffe
Georgia O'Keeffe
Pedernal with Red Hills, 1936
Image: okeeffe_CR900_pedernal-with-red-hills_824551.jpg
Georgia O'Keeffe
Pedernal with Red Hills, 1936
Oil on linen, 19 3/4 x 29 3/4 inches
CR No. 900
Collection of the New Mexico Museum of Art. Bequest of Helen Miller Jones, 1986 (1986.137.18)
Oil on linen, 19 3/4 x 29 3/4 inches
Collection of the New Mexico Museum of Art. Bequest of Helen Miller Jones, 1986 (1986.137.18)
CR No. 900

The vibrant blue form of Pedernal rises above a set of brownish-red hills that fill the work's foreground. To the right of the hills, a flat landscape dotted with green trees stretches out between the hills and the larger mountain beyond. A pale blue sky glows above the landscape.

CR No. 900

Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)

Pedernal with Red Hills

Source of title: backing inscriptions 1, 3.

Alternate Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)

Red Hills with the Pedernal

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

Selected Exhibition Titles

Red Hills with Pedernal
Inaugural Exhibition, 1997, Georgia O'Keeffe Museum (Santa Fe)

Red Hills Pedernal
An Expanding Collection, 1998, Georgia O'Keeffe Museum (Santa Fe)

Red Hills with the Pedernal
Places of their Own: Emily Carr, Georgia O'Keeffe and Frida Kahlo, 2001, McMichael Canadian Art Collection

Red hills with the Pedernal
Places of their Own: Emily Carr, Georgia O'Keeffe and Frida Kahlo, 2001, New Mexico Museum of Art (Santa Fe)

Red Hills with the Pedernal
Places of their Own: Emily Carr, Georgia O'Keeffe and Frida Kahlo, 2002, National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington)

Red Hills with the Pedernal
Places of their Own: Emily Carr, Georgia O'Keeffe and Frida Kahlo, 2002, Vancouver Art Gallery (Vancouver)

General Remarks

Whitney Archive indicates, "Knight Pub. O'Keeffe. 1937. Color Plate No. 5, 'Pedernal and Red Hills.'" Abiquiú Notebooks notes inscriptions 1, 2. (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Lynes publication lists medium as 'Oil on canvas', New Mexico Museum of Art as 'Oil on linen'. (Source: Information provided for Access O'Keeffe by New Mexico Museum of Art, 2025)

Inscriptions

Stretcher: inaccessible. Verso: inaccessible. Backing: 1. "Pedernal with Purple Red Hills – 36" {"Purple" crossed out} (graphite) 2. OK {5star} (graphite) 3. "Pedernal with Red Hills – 36" (Andrew Droth, Label: handwritten, "An American Place' / 509 Madison Avenue / New York — N.Y. / Georgia O'Keeffe", black ink) (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Verso upper left corner (printed and handwritten gallery label in black ink on backing board): Sep x 5 19 [illegible] // ARTIST: GEORGIA O'KEEFFE NO. 263 // TITLE Red Hills with the Pedernal. Date 1936 // MEDIUM Oil SIze 30x20 S.P. // THE DOWNTOWN GALLERY 32 E. 51st St., New York

Verso upper left (printed and handwritten exhibition label in black ink on backing board): McNAY ART INSTITUTE // SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS // EXHIBITION "Georgia O'Keeffe" // DATE 24 Oct. - 30 Nov. 75 // NUMBER 12 // Bishop & Mrs Jones

Verso upper right (printed exhibition label in black ink on backing board): McMichael // CANADIAN ART // COLLECTION // D'ART CANADIEN // Exhibition: Carr, O'Keeffe, Kahlo: Places of Their Own // Exhibition Number: 45 // Crate number: 32 // Artist: Georgia O'Keeffe // Title & Date: Red Hills with the Pedernal 1936 // Owner: Museum of New Mexico, Museum of Fine Arts

Verso upper right corner (printed and handwritten exhibition label in black ink on backing board): Box 1 # 1 // REGISTRATION NUMBER // O'Keeffe // ARTIST // SUBJECT // Mrs. Everett Jones // McNAY ART INSTITUTE // SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS (Source: New Mexico Museum of Art, 2025)

Technique

Oil Painting

Materials

Oil on linen

Sold by the Downtown Gallery (New York, NY) to Bishop Everett and Mrs. Helen Miller Jones (San Antonio, TX) in 1962; Bequest to the New Mexico Museum of Art from Helen Miller Jones in 1986.
(Source: New Mexico Museum of Art, 2025)

Credits & Rights

© Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

Administrative Information

Version History

Core fields last updated 3/30/2026

Last verified by current collection Sep 22 2025

Source System ID

8876

Other IDs

900, Catalogue Raisonné

Conservation

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

Information provided for Access O'Keeffe by New Mexico Museum of Art in 2025.

TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION

Overall: The painting is in good condition with scattered, stable cracks in various areas and the frame is in fair condition with signs of wear.

Painting: The painting has scattered minor, black accretion specks throughout the surface. At the upper left is a short, vertical crack on the lower blue side of the mountain and there is another single crack on slight hump of the blue mountain just below the sky. The upper left quadrant has a series of fine, vertical cracks to the left of the summit. The upper right quadrant of the painting has a fine vertical crack in the sky near the top edge, a series of vertical cracks on the blue mountain side just above the rightmost pink hill, with the longest crack being 1 ½”. There is another series of cracks in the upper right quadrant in the blue and white areas of the mountain side and a minor silver accretion at the tip of the large tree. There is a 3” intermittent vertical crack at the lower right near the side edge on the bottom of the hillside. At the lower right corner near the bottom edge is a minor patch of grime and a minor silver accretion just to the left of the corner. At the lower center is a 2” horizontal, crack and a series of fine, vertical cracks, both near the bottom edge. There is a shiny accretion strip at the lower left near the side edge in the medium red paint of the hill. At center left is a fine 2 ½” vertical, crack in the dark pigment of the hillside with a 1” vertical crack just above it in the shadowed area. There is a minor brown stain in the blue sky at the upper left corner near the side edge.

Frame: The frame shows signs of wear with scattered minor scratches in the gilding, cracks, losses and gouges throughout. The top edge of the frame has a series of cracks as well as a minor gouge along the face at the left corner. The right panel of the frame has a minor gouge and patch of loss along the face at the upper corner, a 3” patch of discoloration and a pair of gouges along the side near the top, a 5 ¼” vertical crack in the gilding along the face near the top, a 7” patch of discoloration along the side at center, and a 5” crack in the gilding along the face near the bottom. The bottom panel has a minor scratch along the face at the right, and a shallow gouge along the bottom edge at the left. The left panel of the frame has a section of loss on the side and a network of cracks along the face; both at the top corner, a minor accretion near the bottom face, a minor vertical crack with a gouge along the side near the lower corner, and a pair of shallow gouges along the face near the bottom and along the inner face of the corner.