Dark Tree Trunks
Brooklyn Museum photograph
Object Label
The V-form is a recurring motif in O’Keeffe’s art and in her wardrobe. In this painting, she has pushed the composition in the direction of abstraction by cropping the tree forms abruptly at the canvas’s edge, bringing focus to the V formed by the converging tree trunks. This V, painted in New Mexico a few months after Stieglitz’s death, may also be endowed with personal meaning. The two sets of bare tree trunks, rooted to each other in the ground but grown apart, may be a subtle reference to her partnership with Stieglitz, frayed by the end of his life because of his attentions to another woman.
This painting can be seen hanging in O’Keeffe’s Ghost Ranch studio in the 1948 short film by Henwar Rodakiewicz, Land of Enchantment: Southwest U.S.A, on view nearby.
Caption
Georgia O'Keeffe American, 1887–1986. Dark Tree Trunks, 1946. Oil on canvas, 40 x 30in. (101.6 x 76.2cm) frame: 40 1/4 x 30 1/4 x 1 1/2 in. (102.2 x 76.8 x 3.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Bequest of Georgia O'Keeffe, 87.136.1. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 87.136.1_SL1.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Artist
Title
Dark Tree Trunks
Date
1946
Medium
Oil on canvas
Classification
Dimensions
40 x 30in. (101.6 x 76.2cm) frame: 40 1/4 x 30 1/4 x 1 1/2 in. (102.2 x 76.8 x 3.8 cm)
Signatures
Unsigned
Inscriptions
Inscriptions on backing: 1. "Dark Tree Trunks 1950 [crossed out] 1946 (crossing out and '1946' inscribed by Doris Bry, black ink) / Oil/ 40 x 30 / Canvas / Baker 5837" (OKR, black ink) 2. "Dark Tree Trunks. / 1946 1950 [crossed out], 40 x 30 / Georgia O'Keeffe" (inscribed by Doris Bry, black ink) 3. "Spray Keck" (inscribed by Doris Bry, graphite)
Credit Line
Bequest of Georgia O'Keeffe
Accession Number
87.136.1
Rights
© artist or artist's estate
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Frequent Art Questions
The blue is amazing!
This is such an interesting landscape by O'Keeffe. Even though it was made in New Mexico, it reminds me of her earlier flower and plant paintings. I love that the brilliant blue sky is just beyond the dark trees.Looks like hair follicles growing out of skin.What an interesting perspective! I hadn't seen it that way before but now I do!In this picture the trees look very rubbery and flexible; did she intend this and is this what the trees in the west looked like?
Great question! I know that painting was completed in New Mexico and that the trees are depicted with stylization, but unfortunately, I don't have information on what type of tree they may be. However, I believe it is a combination of the realistic soft coloration of trees in the desert and O'Keeffe's Modernist style that make them look rubbery or flexible.I am re-reading this exchange you had with my 11 year old daughter and I just want to thank you for this service. It certainly engaged her in the art.How wonderful to hear! That makes us happy.Tell me more.
This painting by Georgia O'Keeffe is representative of the kinds of visuals that attracted her in New Mexico, the bright blue sky and red-brown landscape.You may also notice how she pays special attention to "filling the space in a beautiful way," according to the teachings of one of her teachers, Arthur Wesley Dow. She focuses heavily on the positive and negative space.
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