GEORGIA O'KEEFFE MUSEUM

Nicknamed the "Mother of American Modernism", painter Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986) is famous for her paintings of New York skyscrapers, her close-ups of flowers flirting with abstraction, and her buffalo skulls against a backdrop of shimmering desert landscapes.

O'Keeffe was born in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, to dairy farmers. She developed an early interest in art and, at the age of 10, learned the basics from a local watercolorist. At 18, she entered the prestigious School of the Art Institute of Chicago, then the Art Students League of New York, where she won her first award for her still life, Dead Rabbit. While in New York, she visited art galleries including Gallery 291, owned by her future husband, photographer Alfred Stieglitz. After her training, she gave up art for a while and returned to Chicago, where she became a commercial artist. In 1912, she returned to art classes at the University of Virginia, where she discovered new modes of expression and began to develop a personal style, moving away from realism and experimenting with abstract compositions. Her paintings were first exhibited at Gallery 291 in New York, where she settled. She met Alfred Stieglitz, who brought her into his circle, which included many well-known artists such as Charles Demuth and Paul Strand, who were to have a great influence on her art. It was during this period that she tried her hand at oil painting. In the 1920s, nature played a major role in her work. She painted over 200 pictures of flowers, such as Oriental Puppies (1928) and Jimson Weed (1932), which made her famous. Then it was the skyscrapers of New York, which she painted in a precisionist style, that became her greatest source of inspiration. In 1929, she moved to New Mexico, where she discovered the desert and mountains, landscapes of raw beauty that inspired one of her most famous works, The Lawrence Tree. She returned to the Santa Fe area on several occasions to draw inspiration for her paintings. In 1943, the Art Institute of Chicago devoted a retrospective to her work. The MoMa in New York followed suit three years later, with its first retrospective devoted to a female artist. In 1949, three years after the death of her husband, she settled permanently in New Mexico, where she continued to paint. In the 1970s, she began to lose her sight. Her autobiography, published in 1976, was a great success. Georgia O'Keeffe died in 1986 at the age of 98, leaving behind almost 900 paintings. The Santa Fe Museum, opened in 1997, presents the largest permanent exhibition of works by this major artist in the history of American art.

The Centre Georges Pompidou also recently held a retrospective of her work, featuring paintings, photographs and objects from her home in Abiquiu, northwest of Santa Fe.

The Santa Fe museum offers a collection that provides an accurate portrait of Georgia O'Keeffe's life, from her paintings of New York cityscapes to her radical abstractions of color and form. The galleries take us on a journey through the evolution of her painting and her subjects of inspiration, from the most realistic to the most abstract, through light and darkness, color and form. The museum has also recently added a section entitled Making a Life, exploring Georgia O'Keeffe's lifestyle, from her little-known passion for cooking, including, for example, her special recipes and favorite books, to her style of dress and her various art tools. There are also examples where O'Keeffe ventured into the realm of sculpture, with molds and abstract, undulating sculpture. The influence of not only the New Mexico landscape, but also the local Native American and Hispanic cultures, is evident in the presence of objects such as bird feathers, natural pigments, animal bones, snake skins... Her creative approach is intrinsically linked to a meditation on nature itself, through an intimate relationship with the flora and fauna of New Mexico. You'll be deeply touched by this poetic, tender woman. Visit the gift shop to pick up a beautiful book on Georgia O'Keeffe's work, or to treat yourself to souvenirs of your visit, including jewelry, brushes, scarves, T-shirts, books and art literature...

From March to November, the museum also offers tours of the artist's home, the Georgia O'Keeffe Home and Studio, located in the heart of nature some 60 miles northwest of Santa Fe (from US$35, book well in advance). A visit we highly recommend, not least for the village of Abiquiu itself, surrounded by spectacular landscapes that take us right back to the atmosphere of Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings. Red rocks, yellow cliffs, vast blue skies: the abstractions and shapes of her paintings become reality.

Please note that it is sometimes difficult to find parking in the vicinity, so we advise you to use a paid parking lot.