Georgia O'KeeffeAmerican, 1887–1986Cow's Skull with Calico Roses
Can I see it?
Not on view at present
Where is “Cow's Skull with Calico Roses” now? Collection: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Not on view at present. Checked October 12, 2026.
Chicago, United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the painting
Georgia O’Keeffe collected this cow’s skull in New Mexico during the summer of 1930, when a drought had devasted the Southwest, and many animal skeletons could be found in the desert. She was captivated by the stark elegance of the bones and shipped some back to New York so she could paint them the following year. She noted, “To me they are as beautiful as anything I know. . . . The bones seem to cut sharply to the center of something that is keenly alive on the desert.” O’Keeffe’s inclusion of the calico fabric roses—which were used to decorate graves in New Mexico—further evokes questions of life, death, and mortality.
Art Institute of ChicagoCC BY 4.0
Details
- Accession number
- 1947.712
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Image: Art Institute of Chicago — © the artist or rights holder
In the life of Georgia O'Keeffe
The whole life1929
First journey to New Mexico
At the suggestion of Maria Chabot and Mabel Dodge Luhan she travelled by train with her friend, the painter Rebecca (Beck) Strand, wife of Paul Strand: in Taos Luhan took them in and gave them studios. From then on O’Keeffe visited New Mexico almost every year, often for months, returning each winter to New York to exhibit at Stieglitz’s gallery.
1929
Mountain and desert treks; “The Lawrence Tree”
In the summer of 1929 she went on pack trips through the rugged mountains and deserts of the region; the same year she bought a Ford Model A, learned to drive and explored the land she loved in it. Later she visited the nearby D. H. Lawrence Ranch, where she completed her famous oil painting “The Lawrence Tree”.
1929–1983 · Workplace
New Mexico
December 1931
Meets Frida Kahlo
At the opening of Diego Rivera’s solo exhibition at MoMA, Frida Kahlo met O’Keeffe and a friendship developed. They stayed in touch while O’Keeffe recovered from a nervous breakdown in hospital and then in Bermuda, and in the 1950s they visited each other’s homes on a couple of occasions.
1932–1934
Nervous breakdown and two months in hospital
A nervous breakdown, largely brought on by Stieglitz’s affair with Dorothy Norman, kept O’Keeffe from working from late 1932, and in 1933 she spent two months in hospital; in 1933 and 1934 she recuperated in Bermuda. She began painting again in January 1934.
