Georgia O’Keeffe
Thursday, January 21st, 2010
Nobody sees a flower, really, it is so small. We haven’t time – and to see takes time like to have a friend takes time.
If I could paint the flower exactly as I see it no one would see what I see because I would paint it small like the flower is small. So I said to myself – I’ll paint what I see – what the flower is to me but I’ll paint it big and they will be surprised into taking time to look at it – I will make even busy New Yorkers take time to see what I see of flowers.
…Well, I made you take time to look at what I saw and when you took time to really notice my flower you hung all your own associations with flowers on my flower and you write about my flower as if I think and see what you think and see of the flower – and I don’t.
– Georgia O’Keeffe
While searching for information on Georgia I happened upon this quote on this website: “http://www.artcyclopeia.com/artists/okeeffe_georgia.html” and I think it sums her up pretty well.
Georgia O’Keeffe’s paintings convey a feeling of deepest intimacy. Vibrant colors and beautifully abstracted flowers make up a bulk of her work, and the neatness that is in her work is enviable by even the best artists. There is an evident expressive quality that makes her work stand out, and an irrevocable beauty as well. Her compositions explode with energy and grasp the viewer, because of how incredibly expressive her style is.
Identity is a theme in her pieces, even though if anyone were asked to sum her work in one word the word would most likely be “beautiful”. However that beauty comes forth from a character in the artist. The quote I included at the top of this blog describes her trying to relate what she sees to the viewer. Artist many times try to explain who they are through their artwork, and Georgia does a wonderful job explaining herself.
Personally, Georgia O’Keefe’s work touches me, because of her intimate approach to her work. She is painting the delicacies of a flower, which is a very beautiful, elegant, soft, sweet smelling and fragile plant. When she paints a subject that introspective with such detail, cleanliness and emotion she figuratively makes my heart stop. There is such an emotional quality to her paintings that is not evident in any other artists, and I enjoy her paintings for that endlessly.