The late twenties and early thirties of the life of Georgia O'Keeffe were marked by two depressions - the global, Great Depression that President Roosevelt tried to end in 1933 with his New Deal.
The painter's life on the shift of decades was filled with love disappointments, breakdowns of nerves and hospitalization at a mental hospital. She therefore sought a cure for intimate sadness at the Ghost Ranch, a rehab center in New Mexico, a state she visited as a bride and whose landscapes enchanted her even then.
She will spend the entire summer of Georgia wandering the hills surrounding the city of Taos and the Chama River, painting with a palette of earthy tones, from yellow to dark purple, that will influence her future work.
She researched the culture and traditions of the climate, bringing Mexican motifs to her canvases, but most of all she was interested in nature, the "harsh hills and cliffs she fell in love with" and who kept coming back until she eventually bought a house here. Meanwhile, returning to New York, Georgia brought with her the bones and skulls of animals she found and collected in the desert. She explained this unusual procedure by collecting flowers in some places, in some rocks or shells, so why not bring "beautiful white bones of animals" from the desert. For her, they signified "the wild freedom and wonders of the world we live in," which is why she often painted them, especially in combination with flowers, just like in the picture Aries head, white mallow and small hills.
