Black Place II (1944)

O’Keeffe, Georgia (1887-1986)

Black Place II
1944
Oil on canvas, 60.6 × 76.2 cm
Metropolitan Museum of ArtNew York

“The Black Place” was the name O’Keeffe gave to one of her favorite painting sites in New Mexico. It was a stretch of desolate hills that she said looked, from a distance, like “a mile of elephants.” Over a period of fourteen years (193649), this place inspired a torrent of work in paint, pastel, and pencil. Most often, she featured the jagged juncture of two hills, as in this fairly abstract interpretation of the scene. (MET)

Compare:

O’Keeffe, Georgia (1887-1986)
Black Place I
1944
Museum of Modern ArtSan Francisco