As the ‘mother of American modernism’, Georgia O’Keeffe has inspired many artists with her abstract designs of landscapes, skyscrapers and flowers. But what really makes a Georgia O’Keeffe painting? In this series from The Cultured Giraffe, we aim to dig deep into the minds of artists, so you can learn how to paint like them in a practical, yet creative way.

How to use this guide

At the bottom of each section we have included artist’s notes. We recommend that you read the paragraph before you look at the ways you can interpret her style. This will put her work in context, so that you know what you are working from.

Symbolism

Georgia O’Keeffe makes a clear distinction between what is natural and manmade in her paintings. These are highlighted through symbolism; while her floral designs are painted using relaxed, undulating brushstrokes, the skyscrapers are rigid and defined. However, their significance is largely open to interpretation. Below, we have gone into more detail about what critics think her paintings signify…

Flowers

Nature is abundant in O’Keeffe’s work. According to her autobiography, she first found her love for nature from her school teacher. Looking at flowers and observing their lines and patterns would occupy her for days on end. Before she died, she made nearly 200 floral paintings that have sold for thousands across the world. The spirituality of O’Keeffe’s flowers is present in every picture. The flow of the natural world, like the movement of water, runs deep through her collection.

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There is, however, a more suggestive interpretation we can give to O’Keeffe’s flowers. Her husband, Alfred Stieglitz, propounded the argument that the shape of the flowers were likening a woman’s genitalia. While there was some disagreement in the art community, as they felt this was a male-orientated evaluation of her work, there are certainly similarities. Following on from this, Lisa L. Moore suggested O’Keeffe’s work was an extension of lesbian culture, as O’Keefe was reported to have had several sexual liasions with women. Whether this is merely because the flower coincidentally happens to be an erotic image, is not clear.

Artist notes:

• Look at nature closely. Observe it as if you are looking at it under a microscope. Does that change your perspective in any way?
• What is beautiful about flowers? O’Keeffe painted so many pictures of them because she loved them. This was her passion, not a chore
• Are there any implicit interpretations present in nature? It is not always about looking at their exterior, think about what messages they are transmitting to you as an artist. And remember, there is no wrong answer.

Landscape

The archetypal image of rolling hills and valleys is captured perfectly in O’Keeffe’s paintings. Its grooves are marked by a subtle shift in colour, like a giant sheet folding in on itself. O’Keeffe lived in part of New Mexico, and travelled out to Ghost Ranch, which acted as her locational muse. The variation in the landscape provided her with a sense of inspiration. “The country seems to call one in a way that one has to answer it”, O’Keeffe noted in her book.

Artist notes:

• How does the landscape change? Is it flat/undulating?
• Does the temperature influence the way you perceive the landscape?
• Do you personally have any affiliation with it? Does it evoke a feeling/ a memory?

Skull

As well as these beautiful ombre landscapes, there was a dark side to her drawings. And it came in the form of a skull. O’Keeffe saw drought for the first time in the South-West. It totally devastated the landscape; animal corpses quickly built up, their bones collecting in the sun. O’Keeffe describes it in great detail: “[They] seem to cut more sharply to the center of something that is keenly alive in the desert even tho’ it is vast and empty and untouchable”. There is an ethereal beauty to these paintings, emphasised by the emptiness of the arid land. In some of her paintings she accompanies it with a flower, often as pale as the skull itself. It seems to be a reminder of lost life, an echo in the wilderness…

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Artist notes:

• Is there an object in the landscape that resonates with you?
• What connotations does it have (implicit/explicit)?

Skyscrapers

In contrast to her natural pictures are O’Keeffe’s skyscraper images. These impressive buildings are more conforming than the loose floral designs she is known for. During her time in New York, she made nearly 25 paintings of the city’s highrise buildings. Unlike her other paintings, she used huge canvases. Indeed, there was something about the magnitude of the buildings that captured O’Keeffe’s imagination. In a letter, O’Keeffe told her friend “I have a desire to paint something in a particular place, and paint it big”. Manhattan fulfilled this need. The perspective of the painting, looking up at the huge tower, is immediately awe-inspiring. The hues of the image evoke a sensation of power and superiority that encapsulated New York’s global status in the 1930’s.

Artist notes:

• Find a building, preferably a tall one, and observe it from different angles. Does your opinion of it change if you do this?
• How does this architect’s style differ from others? What are its individual characteristics?
• Does this differ from your observations of nature. Why/ why not?

Painting style

O’Keeffe uses a striking colour palate in her paintings. In her flower collection, for instance, she highlights the contrast between the petals by altering their pigmentation. However, in order to maintain the harmonious balance and fluidity of her works, she tempers these juxtapositions, with soft, undulating lines. This results in a sensitive depiction of the flower form, illustrating her awareness of both its potency and delicacy.

She has a broad range of materials that she works with. However, it was not just her knowledge of these, that made her the famed artist she is known as today. Having an impetus or muse to work from, was what incited her to produce these works, not the tools themselves. As she recalled in 1962, regarding her teacher Arthur Wesley Dow, ‘I had a technique for handling oil and watercolor easily; Dow gave me something to do with it’.

Modern Interpretations

You can find examples of how other artists have interpreted O’Keeffe’s work on Saatchi Art. On there, you can see how others have taken elements of her paintings and modernised them.

We would reccommend you look at…

• Orchid III by Robert Porazinski
• The Bell Tolls by David King
• Tree & Skull 2012 by Jonathan Annable