Reveal the fearless spirit behind those famous flower paintings. O’Keeffe wasn’t just an artist—she was a trailblazer who lived on her own terms, from New York skyscrapers to the wide skies of New Mexico.
Georgia O’Keeffe
Georgia O’Keeffe painted close-ups of flowers so large they forced viewers to see them differently—some even called it visual poetry.
She rejected the label of “female artist,” insisting her work be judged like any man’s.
O’Keeffe was one of the first American artists to embrace abstraction, years before it became popular.
She lived with photographer Alfred Stieglitz, who helped launch her career—but she built her reputation all on her own.
O’Keeffe moved to the New Mexico desert in the 1940s and stayed there for the rest of her life, inspired by the light and landscape.
She collected bones, rocks, and skulls during her desert walks and often painted them in surreal, sacred compositions.
Though famous for flowers and bones, O’Keeffe also painted New York skyscrapers and industrial scenes in the 1920s.
Georgia O’Keeffe broke records at auction, becoming the highest-priced woman artist at the time with a $44 million painting.
Georgia O’Keeffe wore mostly black and white and designed many of her own clothes to reflect her independent, minimalist aesthetic.
She continued painting into her 90s, even after her eyesight began to fail—switching to clay sculpting and watercolor.
She was the first woman to have a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
O’Keeffe traveled around the world late in life, visiting places like Peru and Japan for artistic inspiration.
She refused to explain her work, often saying, “I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way.”
Georgia O’Keeffe lived to be 98, passing away in 1986 as a legend who reshaped American modernism.
Her homes and studios in New Mexico are now preserved as national historic landmarks.
