Georgia O'Keeffe, Yellow Calla, 1926, oil on fiberboard, 9 x 12 3⁄4 in. (22.9 x 32.4 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Woodward Foundation, 1978.34
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Artwork Details
- Title
- Yellow Calla
- Artist
- Date
- 1926
- Location
- Dimensions
- 9 x 12 3⁄4 in. (22.9 x 32.4 cm)
- Credit Line
- Gift of the Woodward Foundation
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- oil on fiberboard
- Classifications
- Highlights
- Subjects
- Object — flower — lily
- Object Number
- 1978.34
Artwork Description
The waxy, long-stemmed calla lily captivated Georgia O'Keeffe in the 1920s. The calla lily was a popular subject in American art in the 1920s and 1930s, when it was fashionable to read sexual and psychological values into the blooms. (Lynes, Georgia O'Keeffe and the Calla Lily in American Art, 1860-1940, 2002). But O'Keeffe objected to this, and insisted that the point of painting any flower so closely and hypnotically was to make people see it for the first time.