White Pansy (section)

A single flower swells to fill this entire 1927 canvas, painted by Georgia O'Keeffe with such tenderness that the petals almost stop looking like petals at all. Pale whites, soft grays, and a whisper of green sweep across the surface in gentle curves. The forms feel large and calm, closer to rolling hills or draped cloth than to a small blossom, yet the delicate center still gives the game away. This is a real flower, only seen the way few people ever bother to see it.

O'Keeffe built her reputation on these giant flowers during the 1920s, and her thinking behind them was refreshingly down to earth. She believed that busy city dwellers rushed past small things without noticing, so she made her blooms enormous, hoping people would finally stop and look. Plenty of critics tried to load her flowers with hidden meanings, but she waved off their theories again and again, saying she simply wanted others to notice the beauty she found. Quiet and a little dreamlike, the painting does exactly what she wished, drawing the eye in and holding it there.