Georgia O'Keeffe

Visual Arts American 1887 – 1986 355 quotes

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've always tried to live my life to the fullest.

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I think it's important to be true to yourself.

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I've always been a very independent person.

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I don't like to be tied down.

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I've always been a bit of a wanderer.

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I think it's important to keep moving forward.

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I've always been a very determined person.

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I don't give up easily.

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I've always been a fighter.

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I think it's important to stand up for what you believe in.

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I've always been a very passionate person.

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I think it's important to live with passion.

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I've always been a very intense person.

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I think it's important to feel things deeply.

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I've always been a very sensitive person.

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I think it's important to be open to new experiences.

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Nobody sees a flower—really—it is so small it takes time—we haven't time—and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.

Letter to Arthur Dove 1926

I have been surprised at the way the world has changed. I have been surprised at the way people have changed. I have been surprised at the way I have changed.

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I had to create an equivalent for what I felt about the world.

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I often think of the first time I saw the desert. It was so vast and empty, so beautiful and terrifying. It was like looking into the face of God.

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