Abiquiu Sand Hills and Mesa

Description

Although relatively small in scale, this long horizontal canvas conveys a striking sense of the panoramic views around Abiquiu, New Mexico. After visiting the area repeatedly, Georgia O’Keeffe bought a home there in 1945, and she painted this image of the sandy hills leading up to a massive flat-topped mesa the same year. The brilliant Southwestern light offered O’Keeffe immense visual clarity over many miles, and she translated her perception of distant geological formations—particularly the dark green mesa that dominates the top third of the composition— into an abstracted arrangement of stacked bands of color.

Provenance

Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986), New York and New Mexico, then Abiquiú, NM, from 1949; sold to Paul Rosenbaum (1897–1982) and Gabriella Rosenbaum (1905–2000; born Gabriella Kramer), Chicago and Palm Springs, FL, 1967 [documentation in curatorial object file]; by descent to Gabriella Rosenbaum; bequeathed to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2002.

Abiquiu Sand Hills and Mesa

Georgia O'Keeffe

1945

Accession Number

158748

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

40.5 × 91.5 cm (15 15/16 × 36 in.)

Classification

oil on canvas

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Bequest of Paul and Gabriella Rosenbaum