This image shows a painting which is framed in a pigmented pastel cream panel that includes fragments of earth and rocks from the sites where the paintings were made. The painting is a horizontal composition which zooms in on a flat cherry red picture plane displaying a collection of multiple sets of keys in an array of colors, shapes and sizes, there are also 2 little metal locks. Some of the keys are attached to handwritten labels, some just with strings. There is an odd sense of perspective as the keys seem to float on a flat space but also appear to be attached to a surface – which we know is a table because there is a painted strip of wood running along the base of the composition anchoring the painting. While the painting is composed of brush strokes in rich purples, pinks, reds, creams, browns, grays, slivers and various shades of brass, the light source illuminating from the left flattens all the colors in a Surrealistic way. In the foreground is a small sliver toned key attached with a red paper handwritten label, which reads 'Don’t Know.'
This is an image that shows the side view of O'Keeffe's Keys showing a screen printed ruler painted along the edge of the painting with a pink background and black numbers.

O’Keeffe’s Keys

ArtistJosephine Halvorson
Year2019-20
Dimensions42 x 32 inches (106.7 x 81.3 cm)
MediumGouache, site material, and screen print on panels
CreditCourtesy of the artist and Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York

The sets of keys shown in this painting are from O’Keeffe’s Ghost Ranch house, where they were kept in a red lacquer box. By having them laid out on the table Halvorson is able to highlight O’Keeffe’s hand-written labels. Using fast-drying gouache, Halvorson herself is able to write with paint.

Many of these keys have been matched with locks that still exist among O’Keeffe’s things. Others remain a mystery, such as the set in the foreground labeled “Don’t know.”