Georgia O’Keeffe, Exhibition, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid: 20 April-8 August 2021

She is often referred to as the ‘mother of American modernism’. Her work is  usually identified as an abstract expression of nature motifs. Abstraction. Blind I is one of the first of her abstract compositions displayed in the exhibition. The brushstrokes are subtle, with red and yellow tones barely visible among the neutral tones. 

Her abstraction is most notably seen in her flower pieces which became her most acclaimed works. You can see White Iris No. 7, which depicts a flower as though it had been photographed from close up. This photographic framing technique is inspired by Alfred Stieglitz, her patron then husband. His patronship helped O’Keeffe hold her fist solo exhibition in 1917, and then her work was displayed every year following that at his various galleries. 

O’Keefe is also known for her landscape paintings, she painted her first in 1925,  titled New York Street with Moon. Interestingly, this piece was exhibited in 1926, when it  sold for $1,200 after being refused for a show the previous year by Stieglitz, in favour of her flower paintings. Her paintings of New York are reminiscent of the  Precisionists, whose work celebrated skyscrapers and contributed to the rise of Modernism. 

Later in her career, in the 1950’s O’Keefe executed second versions of previous paintings. This became the main body of the works she produced. One example in the exhibition is From the Plains II which provides a visual equivalent of her memory of seeing Texas for the first time. 

For full-access tickets (permanent collection + exhibition, if available), click here.