Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986) stands as a pivotal figure in American modernism, renowned for her unique ability to distill natural forms into abstract compositions. Her oeuvre spans seven decades, during which she developed a distinctive visual language that bridges the gap between representation and abstraction. This exhibition, Georgia O’Keeffe: Abstraction and Nature, delves into her artistic journey, showcasing works that exemplify her innovative approach to depicting the natural world. Keeffe’s abstraction is not a flight from nature but a fierce encounter with it. In enlargement, diminishment, and focus on underlying forms, she transforms flowers, landscapes, and bones into paintings that invite emotional and spiritual identification. Her paintings invite us to resee the familiar, to appreciate the intrinsic beauty and complexity of natural form.

O’Keeffe’s earliest paintings, such as Abstraction IX (1916), exhibit her first non-representational efforts. Using charcoal, she tentatively explored the rhythmic possibility of line and shape and developed the basis for her later abstractions. In Abstraction Blue (1927), she employs strong colors and curving forms to capture the essence of natural forms without explicit representation. These works indicate her commitment to portraying the essence of subjects rather than their literal appearances. Her flower canvas’s classical style, like Black Iris (1926) and An Orchid (1941), reflects her process of enlargement. Bigger forms of flowers, she abstracts them, bringing out their curves, textures, and color. The process forces the viewer to confront the need to interpret the subject at a larger scale, relishing the intricacy of details normally overlooked. The desert landscapes and bones of the American Southwest also reflect her abstract sensibility. Sun-bleached bone in Pelvis II (1944) is turned into a window to the heavens, dissolving the flesh into the heavens. Farmhouse Window and Door (1929) reduces architectural elements into geometric forms, highlighting space and form.

O’Keeffe’s art is a harmony of nature and abstraction. Her proficiency at exposing and developing natural forms’ inherent characteristics requires delimitation in observation to perceive the world more consciously. With this show, she celebrates her visionary spirit, compelling the spectators to engage in the intense compatibility between abstraction and nature as elaborated by her art.