Georgia O’Keeffe
American, 1887-1986 

Calla Lily (Lily – Yellow No. 2), 1927
Oil on canvas

Westheimer Family Collection, 2005

Visual Description: This is a painting of a calla lily, almost 2 feet tall and 9 inches wide, emerging from a large, dark green leaf. The stem is a vivid, bright green and the flower itself is a light yellow. The calla lily bends towards the left and the leaf has an undulating shape as it almost envelops the flower. The lily and its leaf are set against a light gray background.

Extended Label Text: In this work, one of several calla lily compositions executed by the artist after she first attempted the subject in 1923, a bright white light gracefully accents the trumpet-like yellow bloom and rippling powder-gray background. O’Keeffe’s calla lily paintings provided her with the opportunity to explore subtle variations in light, shadow, and color—all making use of a traditional still-life subject that has been magnified (as if seen through a camera’s lens). With the paintings’ formal or artistic properties prioritized as they are here, O’Keeffe’s calla lilies were emblematic of a new “modernist” aesthetic in post-World War I America.