Red Hill and White Shell 1938

Georgia O'Keeffe painted "Red Hill and White Shell" with oil on canvas and she really went for it with the colour. Look at that red! I imagine O'Keeffe, in her studio, circling this canvas, thinking about how to capture the light, the curves, the essence of this shell. Did she find it on one of her walks in New Mexico? The surface is so smooth, so carefully blended, you can almost feel the coolness of the shell against the heat of the red hill. It’s funny how she manages to make this shell seem so monumental, so powerful. And the spiral at its center is like a doorway to another dimension. It’s a classic O'Keeffe move, taking something small and making it epic. Painters like O'Keeffe show us that painting isn't just about representation, it's about feeling, about seeing the world in a new light. It’s about possibility.