Skip to main content
Georgia O'Keeffe Museum: Access O'Keeffe
Georgia O'Keeffe
Sunflower, 1940–1942
Image: okeeffe_CR1010_sunflower_793905.jpg
Georgia O'Keeffe
Sunflower, 1940–1942
Oil on canvas, 10 x 12 inches
CR No. 1010
Oil on canvas, 10 x 12 inches
Collection:Private Collection
CR No. 1010

Two bright yellow sunflowers with dark brown, textured centers dominate the composition. Small green leaves poke out from behind the larger, leftmost flower. A softly shaded orangish brown background fills the work's negative space.

CR No. 1010

Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)

Sunflower

Source of title: Whitney Archive, Downtown Gallery Archive, Abiquiú Notebooks, backing inscription 1, 1943 New York (An American Place) exhibition checklist.

General Remarks

Whitney Archive indicates, "Exam. at Amer. Place, March 1946. . . . No signature." Whitney Archive, Abiquiú Notebooks indicate, "Note: There is no sunflower listed in the 1941 or 1942 exhibitions. This is probably No. 4 in the O'Keeffe exh. at Amer. Place, Mar.–May 1943. This exh. included ptgs. done in 1942 and 1943." Whitney Archive dates 1942? Downtown Gallery Archive, Abiquiú Notebooks date 1942. Backing inscription dates 1940. (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Inscriptions

Stretcher: inaccessible. Verso: inaccessible. Backing: 2. "Sunflower – 1940 / by Georgia O'Keeffe / Okd by Alfred Stieglitz" (black ink) 2. Label: handwritten, "An American Place' / 509 Madison Ave —Room 1710 / (S.E. corner 53rd St) — New York" (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Technique

Oil Painting

Materials

Oil on canvas

(The Downtown Gallery, New York, NY); Private collection, New York, NY, 1954; (The Downtown Gallery, New York, NY); The artist, 1955; (The Downtown Gallery, New York, NY); M. B. Kaplansky, Toronto, Ontario, 1959; Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc., New York, NY, sale no. 3644, lot no. 81, 23 May 1974; Fenn Galleries, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1974; Private collection, New Castle, Maine, 1975; (Fenn Galleries, Santa Fe, New Mexico); Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1980; John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, California, 1980 (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Credits & Rights

© Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

Administrative Information

Version History

Core fields last updated 3/30/2026

Source System ID

8949

Other IDs

1010, Catalogue Raisonné