Thomas Hart Benton 1889-1975

This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné being prepared by the Thomas Hart Benton Catalogue Raisonné Foundation. Committee Members: Dr. Henry Adams, Anthony Benton Gude, Andrew Thompson and Michael Owen.

Painted following Thomas Hart Benton's journey through New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming in 1948, Desert Still Life evidences his shift in focus from the Midwest and the South to the expansive landscapes of the American West. Although the precise location depicted remains unknown, it is likely a composite of scenes observed during his travels.


Desert Still Life merges two of Benton's favored genres: still life and landscape. The vast, open landscape of the American West forms the backdrop, while the foreground features a dramatic still life consisting of a weathered log, sun-bleached cattle bones, and dusty rocks. The cow skull and bones evoke Georgia O'Keeffe's use of skulls in her works, such as Cow's Skull: Red, White, and Blue (1931; The Metropolitan Museum of Art). In both artists' work, the skulls serve as Vanitas symbols of nature's cycle of life and death, encapsulating their connections to the natural world and their engagement with the environment of the American Southwest. Another example of this composition, Desert Still Life (1951) is held in the collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri.