Exhibition Guide
Pink Tulip
Audio
Looking at... a flower?
Read Transcript
Audio
Ways of interpreting O'Keeffe's paintings
Read Transcript
Art Object Info
In 1921, modernist photographer Alfred Stieglitz exhibited intimate photographs of painter Georgia O’Keeffe and she became famous overnight. At the time, O’Keeffe was living with Stieglitz in New York, painting still life compositions with easily obtained fruits and vegetables, leaves, shells, and flowers. As Pink Tulip reveals, she recognized that modern photography had excused painters from the traditional expectation of realistic detail. Instead, she transformed ordinary blossoms into intense orchestrations of softly curving, potentially erotic abstract shapes that explode with color. “Whether the flower or the color is the focus I do not know,” she said. “I do know that the flower is painted large to convey to you my experience of the flower—and what is my experience of the flower if it is not color?” The painting retains its original frame.
Reproduction, including downloading of Georgia O’Keeffe works is prohibited by copyright laws and international conventions without the express written permission of Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Art Object Info
In 1921, modernist photographer Alfred Stieglitz exhibited intimate photographs of painter Georgia O’Keeffe and she became famous overnight. At the time, O’Keeffe was living with Stieglitz in New York, painting still life compositions with easily obtained fruits and vegetables, leaves, shells, and flowers. As Pink Tulip reveals, she recognized that modern photography had excused painters from the traditional expectation of realistic detail. Instead, she transformed ordinary blossoms into intense orchestrations of softly curving, potentially erotic abstract shapes that explode with color. “Whether the flower or the color is the focus I do not know,” she said. “I do know that the flower is painted large to convey to you my experience of the flower—and what is my experience of the flower if it is not color?” The painting retains its original frame.
Reproduction, including downloading of Georgia O’Keeffe works is prohibited by copyright laws and international conventions without the express written permission of Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.