Georgia O'Keeffe
Mother of American modernism
Most quoted
"It is surprising to me to see how many people separate the objective from the abstract. Objective painting is not good painting unless it is good in the abstract sense. A hill or tree cannot make a good painting just because it is a hill or a tree. It is lines and colors put together so that they say something."
— from Letter, 1930
"I said to myself, I have things in my head that are not like what anyone has taught me – shapes and ideas so near to me – so natural to my way of being and thinking that it hasn't occurred to me to put them down. I decided to start anew, to strip away what I had been taught."
— from Letter, 1915
"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."
— from Letter, 1939
All quotes by Georgia O'Keeffe (355)
I often wonder why the men don't do something about it.
I've been told that I have a very strong will. I suppose I do.
I don't particularly like to be told what to do.
I have always been a little bit of a rebel.
I've always been interested in what's under the surface.
I often painted bones and skulls because they were beautiful.
I have a feeling that I have been here before.
I'm not interested in what other people think of me.
I've always been a bit of a loner.
I like to be alone. I like to be myself.
I don't like to talk about my work. I just like to do it.
I've always been drawn to the desert. It's so vast and empty.
I think there's something very spiritual about the desert.
I've always been fascinated by the sky.
I often feel like I'm looking at the world through a magnifying glass.
I don't think there's anything more beautiful than a cloud.
I've always been a bit of a dreamer.
I think it's important to keep a sense of wonder.
I've always been interested in the big questions.
I think art should be a way of life.
Contemporaries of Georgia O'Keeffe
Other Visual Artss born within 50 years of Georgia O'Keeffe (1887–1986).