How to see more and care less: The art of Georgia O'Keeffe - Iseult Gillespie

A canvas drenched in sunset hues, colors radiating like flame.

At first glance, this painting may appear to be an impossible, abstract image.

But a closer look reveals the tender stems,

lush petals and velvety texture of a Canna Lily.

This metamorphosis of natural subjects into abstract geometry

is commonplace in the work of Georgia O’Keeffe—

the revolutionary American painter and sculptor.

But the magic behind this transformation remains

just as elusive as the artist herself.

Born in Wisconsin in 1887, O’Keeffe spent her childhood plucking wildflowers

and arranging fruits to paint.

At seventeen, she moved to Chicago to study at the prestigious Art Institute.

Her teachers trained her to faithfully reproduce reality

in the conventions of European masters.

Although she enjoyed the solitude and precision of this work,

O’Keeffe felt little personal connection to it.

After moving to New York, she was increasingly drawn to the clean lines,

striking composition and vivid colors of Japanese art.

O’Keeffe soon found a teacher whose lessons inspired her

to put those interests into practice.

Unlike her previous teachers,

Arthur Wesley Dow urged his students to focus on more abstract representations

of light, shape, and color.

These lessons manifested in O’Keeffe’s first series of abstract drawings.

Rendered in charcoal, they present a series of undulating lines,

bold shading and billowing clouds.

These drawings defy easy classification—

suggesting, but never quite matching, any specific natural reference.

Earlier European painters in the Cubist tradition

had employed rigid geometry to abstract external subjects.

But here, O’Keeffe employed the shapes and rhythms of nature

to capture her internal feelings.

Experiments like these would soon become a cornerstone

of an artistic movement called American Modernism.

Although no single style defines Modernist painting,

its proponents shared a desire to challenge the realist traditions

that dominated art education.

Beginning in the late 1910’s, Modernist painting

often used geometric shapes and bold colors

to probe the American psyche.

O’Keeffe threw herself into these experiments —

but she was reluctant to share her new work.

However, when a friend sent her charcoals to the art dealer Alfred Stieglitz,

he became entranced.

In 1916, he arranged for a grand exhibition in New York.

This marked the beginning of O’Keeffe’s career as a popular artist—

and a relationship that would lead to marriage in 1924.

Marriage didn’t diminish O’Keeffe’s taste for solitude.

She travelled widely to teach,

and often retreated to paint for months at a time.

Whether she was exploring the craggy canyons of Texas,

the quiet forests of South Carolina, or the sun-bleached desert of New Mexico,

her creative process was based on ritual and close observation.

She paid meticulous attention to small details,

and spent hours mixing paints to create exactly the right colors.

When she found the perfect hue, she’d record it

in her ever-growing collection of handmade color cards.

O’Keeffe also experimented with perspective to celebrate objects

that were often overlooked.

In "Rams Head with Hollyhock,"

she places a weathered skull and a delicate flower

high above the hills below.

This massive skull overshadows the landscape,

casting both the skeleton and the mountains in a new, eerie light.

The public was captivated by her unique perspective and secretive behavior.

She was particularly praised for her massive flower paintings,

ranging from fiery poppies to ghostly calla lillies.

Stieglitz and other critics of the time were infatuated by Freudian psychology,

and were quick to link these paintings to female genitalia.

But O’Keeffe dismissed such interpretations.

She resented the male gaze that dominated the art world,

and demanded her work be respected

for its emotional evocation of the natural world.

Eventually, O’Keeffe settled down in New Mexico,

near one of her favorite artist retreats.

In her 70’s, her eyesight began to fail,

but she continued to mine the landscape’s mysteries in new, tactile mediums.

O’Keeffe kept creating until her death at 98,

and is remembered as the “Mother of American Modernism.”

Decades on, her work retains its wild energy—

and O’Keeffe her personal mystique.