The name is absent

65

O’Keeffe’s “Great American Painting” uses symbolism and humor, setting her apart from
the mainstream art world of the time.

Although working in a different era from O’Keeffe’s, Larsen also regards this quest
to represent the spirit of America in her work as a priority in her music. As discussed
above, Larsen cites a long list of American composers, songwriters, and performers in a
diverse range of genres as her musical influences. In Black Birds, Red Hills Larsen has
chosen an artist who shares her wonder for the culture and vastness of America as source
material, and has thereby added another layer of meaning to the work.

O’Keeffe’s Musical Influence

Black Birds, Red Hills is a piece that captures the spirit of O’Keeffe and her
artwork in musical sound. Before examining the music in detail, it is instructive to
consider that O’Keeffe was fascinated in doing the opposite: turning musical sound into
visual art. Thus, in addition to the similarities outlined above, Larsen was drawn to
O’Keeffe because of the musicality and flow in her painting.

Several of O’Keeffe’s most famous paintings, like Blue and Green Music, and
Music—Pink and Blue, both from 1919, refer directly to the inspiration of music in their
titles. Among O’Keeffe’s many influences and interests, she was a follower of the
Romantic and Symbolist movements of the nineteenth century, and an admirer of
Nietzsche. Nietzsche often referred to music and dance in his writing and believed that
music, more so than the visual image, was capable of symbolizing the natural order. He
suggested that art is seen as wiser or more philosophical than philosophy, and music

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