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Georgia O'Keeffe
Painting enlarged flowers and the landscapes of New Mexico.
American modernism · Desert landscapes
- Born
- 15 November 1887
- Birthplace
- Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, USA
- Died
- 6 March 1986
More people
Georgia O'Keeffe
An American painter who simplified flowers, buildings and desert forms into bold compositions poised between observation and abstraction.
Early life
Wisconsin childhood
Grew up on a dairy farm near Sun Prairie.
Art studies
Trained at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Students League in New York.
Career
- 1910s
Teaching and drawing
Worked as an art teacher while developing abstract charcoal drawings.
- 1916
New York debut
Alfred Stieglitz exhibited her drawings.
- 1929
New Mexico visits
Began the southwestern journeys that reshaped her subjects.
- 1949
Permanent move
Settled in New Mexico.
Selected work
Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1
Enlarged white flowers turn a natural form into a bold composition.
Cow’s Skull: Red, White, and Blue
Set a desert skull against an American colour scheme.
Sky Above Clouds IV
A vast painting inspired by views from aircraft.
Beyond work
Marriage
Married photographer Alfred Stieglitz in 1924.
Desert homes
Lived and worked at Ghost Ranch and Abiquiú.
Sources & photo credit
Biographical reference ↗O’Keeffe Museum: Sky Above Clouds IV ↗O’Keeffe Museum: artistic techniques ↗Photo: Alfred Stieglitz. CC0 · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
