Georgia O’Keefe was born in the 19th century in Wisconsin. Her parents had six children in total and ran a dairy farm during her childhood. She was never very fond of the farm life, however, finding that she had a unique talent for art. Starting from the age of 10, she began to seek out opportunities to paint. This eventually led her to study at the Art Institute of Chicago.
1. She Loved Flowers
Over the course of her career, Georgia O’Keeffe produced over 900 paintings in total. Many of her paintings, however, were of flowers. It took her some time to discover her style, at one point even causing her to stop painting to be a commercial artist. She’d go on to sell a collection of her paintings for $25,000, which was the highest amount a living American artist had ever received for work at the time.
2. An Interesting Husband
Georgia O’Keeffe actually objected to the the display of her works by a man named Alfred Stieglitz. Stieglitz owned a gallery and had obtained a series of charcoal drawings from a friend of O’Keeffe’s without her permission. He convinced her to display the work, then convinced her to move to New York so she could paint, and then eventually convinced her to marry him.
3. Bleached Animal Bones
Outside of her flowers, Georgia O’Keeffe is remembered as one of the best US West landscape artists. She was inspired by a trip to Taos, New Mexico to paint the desert landscapes and would eventually relocate from New York to New Mexico in her later years. She would paint there for about 25 years until her vision began to leave. A local ceramic artist befriended her and encouraged her to keep painting.
4. A Famous Patio
It’s been said that O’Keeffe painted her winter porch in New Mexico over 30 times over the course of her career, which would account for one seasonal work per year on average. She would eventually leave most of her estate to the young ceramic artist who helped her in her later years, but to his credit, he relinquished almost all of it.
Georgia O’Keeffe is considered one of the greatest American artists of her generation. When her work is seen in person, this consideration is well deserved.
