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Georgia O'Keeffe Museum: Access O'Keeffe
Georgia O'Keeffe
Anything, 1916
Courtesy of Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. Photo: Tim Nighswander/IMAGING4ART
Image: okeeffe_CR90_anything_786485.jpg
Georgia O'Keeffe
Anything, 1916
Oil on board, 20 x 15 3/4 inches
CR No. 90
Gift of The Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation
2006.5.29
Oil on board, 20 x 15 3/4 inches
Gift of The Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation
2006.5.29
CR No. 90

Three conical green trees rise up from the base of the work and extend into the central and left portions of the piece. In the center of the image, a rounded tree with a yellowish center emerges above the green trees. Behind the central red tree and to the right, a narrower, rounded red tree can also be seen. The sky, visible in the upper corners of the work, is a dark blue.

CR No. 90

Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)

Anything

Source of title: Abiquiú Notebooks after 1977.

Alternate Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)

Red and Green Trees

General Remarks

Not recorded Whitney Archive, Downtown Gallery Archive. Completed in Virginia before August move to Texas, on basis of Stieglitz–O'Keeffe correspondence. (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Inscriptions

Inscriptions: Verso:

  1. "Georgia O'Keeffe" (black ink)
  2. "Red and Green Trees" (Juan Hamilton, black ink) (Source: Lynes, 1999)
Technique

Oil Painting

Materials

Oil on board

Estate of the artist, 1986
Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation, 1993
Gift to Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, 2006
(Source: Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, 2025)

Credits & Rights

© Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

Administrative Information

Version History

Core fields last updated 6/10/2026

Source System ID

985

Other IDs

90, Catalogue Raisonné

Conservation

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

Support: The support is a laminated fibrous paper board. All corners are well-rounded, and edges are worn.

Ground or Support Preparation: Although the board may have been sized, there is no evidence of a traditional white primer or ground. In near-infrared imaging, pencil lines can be seen running the length of the board beneath the recto design layers. This indicates that the board may have been scrap or cut from a larger sheet used for other paintings.

Design Layers: The artist has prepared colors so that they have a slightly stiff, cream-like consistency that holds brush texture as a compositional and textural effect. O'Keeffe applies paint at the margins of forms using nearly continuous, curvilinear brush strokes with the brush positioned at a low angle to the canvas, resulting in a continuous, raised ridge of paint at the edge of each form.

Surface Coating: The painting has a moderate, soiled, synthetic acrylic varnish. The varnish has a very glossy appearance and contains bubbles that appear to be contributing to varnish separation.

Framing, Backing, and Hanging Hardware: The painting is installed in a reproduction of Georgia O'Keeffe/George Of-designed "clam shell" profile microenvironmental buffered framing system with a mirror hanger and "T" bolt security hardware for use during exhibition.

CONDITION NARRATIVE

The painting is complete and retains all the original structural and material elements applied by the artist at the time of fabrication. The structure is stable, and all primer and paint layers appear stable and secure. The indentations and scratches that were on the board prior to the artist's application of the design layers remain visible. There is slight soiling/graying on the original isobutyl varnish. The painting was treated in 2006 to stabilize the friable edges of the support board, especially the more worn lower left corner. This treatment appears to be holding as all paints appear secure and stable. There are planar deformations (indentations) in the board. Scratches are present but have been either retouched and/or saturated so as to be less visible.

In 2006, the original varnish was re-saturated with an isobutyl varnish (Golden MSA varnish with UVLS). Currently, there are several discrete areas of varnish delamination. Light soiling and abrasions are visible in the yellow area. Scratches with abrasions are seen at the lower right corner. Paint transfer (some blue, some orange) is present. The verso is coated in white oil paint. There is an inscription in black ink that reads "Red and Green Trees Georgia O’Keeffe." The white oil coating appears to have been applied over an earlier paint layer, the design of which is texturally evident. There is also some trace of bleed-through color present. The verso also shows abrasion of the board edges. A series of stray graphite marks emanates from the lower left edge.