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| Grey Lines with Black, Blue and Yellow, c. 1923, Georgia O’Keeffe. |
Georgia O'Keeffe titled this work with the names of some of the prominent colors. The title here may become more of a poem than a description, alluding to the colors of a bruise and neglecting that it's largely a shade of lavender. It's a hint that this image may elude to a form of psychic distress, and the colors can take us there. Colors can be the ultimate subject of a painting, as mid-20th century artists who have painted monochromes have shown;
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| Yves Klein Untitled Blue Monochrome (IKB 322) 1959 Pigment and synthetic resin on cardboard laid on gauze 8 3/10 × 6 9/10 in |
O' Keeffe's paintings are my absolute favorite thing to run across in a museum. Her work often does not translate well in reproduction. It also doesn't really fall into some trend-of-past 'art movement' outside of a very organic form of abstraction.
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| Ends of Barns Georgia O' Keeffe 1922 |
Sometimes it even veers towards a streamlined realism, especially in the more sentimental subjects of landscapes and buildings. But maybe this painting is ultimately more just about 'red' ? O'Keeffe grew up on a Wisconsin dairy farm and quite a few barn paintings appear in her early work.
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| The sign on the left marks the Georgia O'Keefe childhood home. |
What's she's best known for of course are her enlarged flowers, her most accessible works.
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| Jimson Weed, White Flower No. 1 (1936) on view at the Tate Modern |
In 2014 her Jimson Weed, White Flower No. 1 (1936) sold for $44.4 million, and O’Keefe became the most highly valued female artist ever.
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