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Georgia O'Keeffe Museum: Access O'Keeffe
Georgia O'Keeffe
Red Hills and Sky, 1945
Courtesy of Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. Photo: Tim Nighswander/IMAGING4ART
Image: okeeffe_CR1114_red-hills-and-sky_789794.jpg
Georgia O'Keeffe
Red Hills and Sky, 1945
Oil on canvas, 30 x 40 inches
CR No. 1114
Gift from the Estate of Mrs. Eugene McDermott
2019.15.1
Oil on canvas, 30 x 40 inches
Gift from the Estate of Mrs. Eugene McDermott
2019.15.1
CR No. 1114

O'Keeffe describes this painting as " just the arms of two red hills reaching out to the sky holding it." This painting can be viewed as an organic abstraction contemplating the intersection of an expansive flat of blue sky and the V shape of the sandy red hills below.

CR No. 1114

Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)

Red Hills and Sky

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

Alternate Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)

Red Hills & Sky

Source of title: Whitney Archive in 1969.

Blue And Red Hills

Source of title: Whitney Archive in 1969.

General Remarks

Whitney Archive indicates, "Exam. at Amer. Place, March 1946.... No signature. In O'Keeffe exit, at Amer. Place, Feb.—Mar. 1946, but not listed in catalogue. Title given by Stieglitz." Abiquiú Notebooks indicates, "Back by Andrew [Andrew Droth] 'Blue and Red Hills'" [not verified]. O'Keeffe wrote: "A little way out beyond my kitchen window at the Ranch is a V shape in the red hills. I passed the V many times — sometimes stopping to look as it spoke to me quietly. I one day carried my canvas out and made a drawing of it. The shapes of the drawing were so simple that it scarcely seemed worth while to bother with it any further. But I did a painting—just the arms of two red hills reaching out to the sky holding it" (Georgia O'Keeffe [1976], unpaginated, text accompanying entry 85). (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Inscriptions

Stretcher: inaccessible Verso: inaccessible Backing: "Red Hills and Sky / 1945 / oil / 30 x 40 / Canvas / Sunami 6810" (Label: printed, O'Keeffe (red-bordered), black ink) (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Technique

Oil Painting

Materials

Oil on canvas

Credits & Rights

© Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

Administrative Information

Version History

Core fields last updated 5/20/2026

Source System ID

9722

Other IDs

1114, Catalogue Raisonné