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Abiquiu Sand Hills and Mesa

Semiabstracted landscape painting. Light-colored hills with spots of green and brown fill the foreground, while the background presents taller green mountains and blue sky.
© Georgia O'Keeffe Museum/ Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

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  • Semiabstracted landscape painting. Light-colored hills with spots of green and brown fill the foreground, while the background presents taller green mountains and blue sky.

Date:

1945

Artist:

Georgia O’Keeffe (American, 1887–1986)

About this artwork

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.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Arts of the Americas

Artist

Georgia O'Keeffe

Title

Abiquiu Sand Hills and Mesa

Place

Abiquiu (Object made in)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1945

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

40.6 × 91.4 cm (16 × 36 in.)

Credit Line

Bequest of Paul and Gabriella Rosenbaum

Reference Number

2002.74

Copyright

© Georgia O'Keeffe Museum/ Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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