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Georgia O'Keeffe

American

1887, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin
1986, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Biography

After growing up on a dairy farm, Georgia O'Keeffe began a nomadic existence, studying and teaching art in Illinois, New York, Virginia, Texas, and South Carolina. In 1916, she met the photographer and gallerist Alfred Stieglitz, with whom she had a romantic and professional relationship lasting until his death in 1946. O'Keeffe became famous during the 1920s for her paintings of Manhattan's skyline, and for the lush, close-up views of flowers now synonymous with her name. In 1929, she became fascinated by the empty landscape of New Mexico. Her paintings are highly realistic, but use symbolic devices to evoke the character of the desert — especially huge animal bones suspended in the sky. O'Keeffe traveled regularly to New Mexico before relocating there permanently in 1949. She lived reclusively on her ranch until her death at age 98.

In the video series The Country Dog Gentlemen Travel to Extraordinary Worlds, canine characters from Roy De Forest’s playful painting Country Dog Gentlemen take you on adventures to learn about famous artworks in SFMOMA‘s collection.

Works in the Collection

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