CEBOLLA CHURCH
by Georgia O'Keeffe
1945
Oil on canvas, 51.1 x 92.0 cm.
Driving
through the New Mexican highlands near her home, Georgia O'Keeffe would
often pass through the village of Cebolla with its rude adobe Church of
Santo Niño. The artist was moved by the poignancy of the little building:
its sagging, sun-bleached walls and rusted tin roof seemed so typical of
the difficult life of the people.
When O'Keeffe came to paint the church she addressed it directly, emphasizing
its isolation and stark simplicity. Literally formed out of the earth, the
building affirms the permanence and the hard, defiant patience of the people.
For O’Keeffe, it symbolized human endurance and aspiration. "I have always
thought it one of my very good pictures", she wrote, "though its message
is not as pleasant as many others".
And the question remains: What is that in the window??