Some famous works by American painters include Georgia O’Keeffe’s "Cow Skull: Red, White, and Blue, Jackson Pollock’s "Lavender Mist," and Robert Rauschenberg’s "Bed." These three paintings rank among the major works by these important American artists.Continue Reading
“Cow Skull: Red, White, and Blue” is one of Georgia O’Keeffe’s iconic cow skull paintings, depicting a white skull framed against a red and blue background. Representing the colors of the American flag, the painting offered a representation of the United States different from most of O’Keeffe’s contemporaries. O’Keeffe’s depictions of the American Southwest made her one of the most famous artists of the 20th century.
“No. 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist)” is one of Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings, created by pouring, dripping and flinging paint onto canvases laid flat on the floor. While Pollock’s innovative style was controversial at first, it quickly gained favor in the art world, and “Lavender Mist” is one of his most celebrated works. Created in Pollock’s home studio on Long Island, the painting was inspired by the marshes of nearby Accabonac Creek.
Robert Rauschenberg’s landmark “Bed” is one his first “combines,” a term Rauschenberg used for his works that attached found objects to traditional canvases. Rauschenberg used a pillow, quilt and sheet as his canvas, painting and drawing on these non-traditional materials and hanging them as a canvas. Rauschenberg’s work is often seen as a link between the abstract expressionism of the 1950s and the pop art of the 1960s.Learn more about Painting