North Carolina Museum of Art

Driving through the New Mexican highlands near her home, Georgia O'Keeffe would often pass through the village of Cebolla with its rude adobe Church of Santo Niño. The artist was moved by the poignancy of the little building: its sagging, sun-bleached walls and rusted tin roof seemed so typical of the difficult life of the people.

When O'Keeffe came to paint the church, she addressed it directly, emphasizing its isolation and stark simplicity. Literally formed out of the earth, the building affirms the permanence and the hard, defiant patience of the people. For O’Keeffe it symbolized human endurance and aspiration. "I have always thought it one of my very good pictures," she wrote, "though its message is not as pleasant as many others."

And the question remains: What is that in the window?