white flower

Whites, soft greens, and cool grays spiral together in this 1932 painting by Georgia O'Keeffe, and at first glance you might not even realize you are looking at a flower. She has moved in so close that the petals stretch out like hills and valleys, filling the entire canvas with their gentle curves and folds. This was one of her favorite tricks. By blowing flowers up to giant proportions, she forced people to actually pay attention to something they usually walk right past. As she liked to say, flowers are so small that nobody bothers to really look, so she made hers too big to miss.

Often called the mother of American modernism, O'Keeffe holds a special place in the country's art history. Her flower paintings have stirred up their fair share of arguments, with some critics convinced they hide references to the human body. She never had much patience for that idea, insisting she was only painting what was in front of her and that viewers were simply projecting their own thoughts. However you read it, the pale shapes here have a soothing quality, gently coiling inward and drawing your eye toward the still, quiet heart of the bloom.