A Pioneer of American Abstraction: A Guide to Georgia O’Keeffe’s Paintings
There are not that many American artists who have managed to achieve excellence in depicting the charms of American landscapes similar to that of Georgia O’Keeffe. The painter went down into history as one of the pioneers in American modernist abstract art. Born in 1887 in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, O’Keeffe became one of the first women to enter the professional arts. Georgia O’Keeffe’s paintings feature recognizable themes of the American Southwest nature, flowers, and her iconic bone/skull images discussed below.
Meet Georgia O’Keeffe
Though O’Keeffe was born into a family of farmers, she expressed interest in art from an early age. The family supported her passion and sent Georgia to study art at the Art Institute of Chicago. The talented woman continued her academic art education at the Art Students League of New York, where she mastered still life and the basics of figure drawing.
Georgia O’Keeffe’s early abstractions created in the 1910s caught the attention of Alfred Stieglitz, a photographer and well-to-do gallerist of those times. O’Keeffe moved to NYC and eventually married Stieglitz, with her popularity growing throughout the 1920s. After Alfred Stieglitz’s death in 1946, the artist moved to New Mexico where she continued drawing even at a later age after developing vision issues.
Photo portrait of Georgia O’Keeffe by Alfred Stieglitz, 1918
Georgia O’Keeffe’s Paintings: Most Famous Works You Should Know
The artist left a massive creative legacy throughout her long, productive life. The best-known paintings by O’Keeffe are as follows:
- Black Iris III (1926). This painting is a perfect fusion of floral motifs typical for O’Keeffe’s visual style and her mastery of abstract art. The artwork is deeply symbolic, with the flower’s folds and shapes offering a multi-layered sensual interpretation.
- Cow’s Skull: Red, White, and Blue (1931). Another signature work by O’Keeffe, “Cow’s Skull,” is a painting combining skull imagery with a backdrop painted in the patriotic colors of the American flag. Expert interpretation of the painting suggests an in-depth exploration of themes of death and decay through the prism of American identity and national symbolism.
- Sky Above Clouds IV (1965). This is one of the later works by O’Keeffe, inspired by her airplane travel and the views she could see from that vantage point. The painting is large-sized, over 20 feet long, which creates a vast, immersive experience of the sky. The theme also reflects the artist’s fascination with space and her pursuit of physical and spiritual openness traceable in the later career.
Learn More about Abstract Art
If you love Georgia O’Keeffe’s paintings and abstract art in general, check out our blog for more exciting stories about well-known abstract artists and their art.