What to know about Wisconsin native Georgia O’Keeffe, the most displayed female artist in U.S. museums

A recent study by online art gallery Singulart found that Wisconsin native Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986) is the most displayed female artist across American museum art collections.

Here are answers to some questions that readers might have about O'Keeffe, with an emphasis on her connections to Wisconsin.

What is Georgia O'Keeffe best known for?

When they hear the name O'Keeffe (note the double-f), many people immediately think of her floral paintings. That was one rationale for the Mitchell Park Domes' spring show, "Abstracting Georgia O'Keeffe," which saluted the artist with a display of spring blooms. While O'Keeffe often took her subjects from nature, her approach over her long artistic life varied from abstract to representational.

Her work could also be gigantic. "Sky Above Clouds IV," which she finished in 1965 at age 77, is 8 feet high by 24 feet wide. It is in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

"Widely considered a pioneer of American modern art, Georgia O'Keeffe is one of the most acclaimed artists of the 20th century and — without question — one of the most prominent Wisconsin-born artists," wrote Margaret Andera, MIlwaukee Art Museum's senior curator of art, in an email message.

As a young woman, O'Keeffe also was the subject of a number of photographic artworks by Alfred Stieglitz, a leading American photoartist and gallerist who became her husband.

Where was Georgia O'Keeffe born?

Georgia Totto O'Keeffe was born on a farm near Sun Prairie in Wisconsin's Dane County on Nov. 15, 1887. She was the second oldest child and oldest daughter of Francis Calyxtus O'Keeffe and Ida Totto O'Keeffe.

Where did Georgia O'Keeffe grow up?

O'Keeffe attended Town Hall School in Sun Prairie. She and her sisters also took art lessons from a local watercolor artist. Her parents sent her to boarding school at Sacred Heart Academy in Madison in 1901. The following year, her family moved to Williamsburg, Virginia. O'Keeffe stayed back in Wisconsin for a year, attending Madison Central High School, before joining them in Virginia in 1903.

Did Wisconsin influence her art?

In his obituary and appreciation of the artist, published a day after her death on March 6, 1986, Milwaukee Journal art critic James Auer reported that one of O'Keeffe's local art teachers taught her to look closely at a jack-in-the-pulpit. "It was a lesson that resulted in a lifelong attention to the details of flowers," Auer wrote, "a concern that was to begin within a decade to transform itself into powerfully simplified images, developed according to O'Keeffe's inner vision."

Where did Georgia O'Keeffe study art?

In 1905-'06 O'Keeffe studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, before getting sick with typhoid fever disrupted her education. She later studied at the Art Students League in New York and at the University of Virginia.

Who did Georgia O'Keeffe marry?

Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946) was a leading American photographer. As curator and impresario of the 291 Gallery in New York, he was influential in recognizing and promulgating modernist artwork in the United States.

A friend of O'Keeffe showed some of her artwork to Stieglitz in 1916. Stieglitz showed them in the gallery without the artist's permission. She complained to Stieglitz, but he then persuaded her to move to New York and paint full time.

Stieglitz began making portraits of O'Keeffe. They fell in love. He divorced his wife and married O'Keeffe in 1924.

How many photographs did Stieglitz take of O'Keeffe?

The most common estimate is more than 300, reported both by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and by the New York Times.

His ongoing portrayal of O'Keeffe through the photographs "was one of his chief occupations between 1917 and 1925, during which time he made several hundred photographs of the painter (who became his wife in 1924)," wrote Lisa Hostetler, a former Milwaukee Art Museum curator, in an essay on The Met's website. "His refusal to encapsulate her personality into a single image was consistent with several modernist ideas: the idea of the fragmented sense of self, brought about by the rapid pace of modern life; the idea that a personality, like the outside world, is constantly changing, and may be interrupted but not halted by the intervention of the camera; and, finally, the realization that truth in the modern world is relative and that photographs are as much an expression of the photographer’s feelings for the subject as they are a reflection of the subject depicted."

When did O'Keeffe move to New Mexico?

She made her first trip to New Mexico in summer 1929. Stimulated by the landscape and the region's Hispanic and Indigenous cultures, she returned most following summers to paint there. Three years after Stieglitz's death, O'Keeffe moved to New Mexico permanently in 1949.

When and where did Georgia O'Keeffe die?

She died in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on March 6, 1986, at age 98.

Can I see Georgia O'Keeffe paintings at the Milwaukee Art Museum?

The Milwaukee Art Museum has 21 paintings and drawings by O'Keeffe in its collection.

Ten of those works are currently on view: "It Was Red and Pink" (1959), "Blue B" (1959), "Patio with Cloud" (1956), "Black Door with Snow II" (1955), "Poppies" (1950), "Pelvis I" (1944), "Grey and Brown Leaves" (1929), "Lake George Autumn" (1927), "Series I —No. 2" (1918); and "Series I — No. 3" (1918). They can be seen in Galleries K213 and K223 on the top level of the art museum.

MAM's collection also is home to six portraits of O'Keeffe by other artists, though none is on view at present: three by Stieglitz and one each by famed portrait photographers Yousuf Karsh, Philippe Halsman and Buck Miller.

Can I see Georgia O'Keeffe paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago?

In addition to works in its permanent collection, the Art Insitute of Chicago has a new O'Keeffe exhibit in summer 2024. "Georgia O'Keeffe: 'My New Yorks'" brings together about 100 paintings, drawings and other works depicting the urban landscape of New York in the late 1920s and early 1930s. O'Keeffe and Stieglitz lived in the newly constructed Shelton Hotel, which promoted itself at that time as the tallest residential skyscraper in the world. For info on the exhibit, visit www.artic.edu.

Where is the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum?

The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum consists of two locations in New Mexico.

The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum Galleries, 217 Johnson St., Santa Fe, are curated galleries through O'Keeffe's entire body of work. Current exhibits include "Georgia O'Keeffe: Making a Life" (through Nov. 2, 2025) and "Rooted in Place" (through Aug. 1, 2024), which focuses on O'Keeffe's exploration of trees in her art. The museum has a free audio tour that visitors can listen to on their own devices.

The O'Keeffe Home & Studio in Abiquiú, about 50 miles north of Sante Fe, offers tours from March through November that require registration in advance. All tours start at the Welcome Center, 21120 US-84, which is on the grounds of the Abiquiu Inn.

For more info on both spots, visit okeeffemuseum.org.

How did the Singulart study determine O'Keeffe's popularity?

Singulart collected data from art museums in 29 of the 50 most populous American cities; each of the 29 cities had two or more art museums. It analyzed both paintings and sculptures. Milwaukee was not one of the 29 cities. O'Keeffe was the only female artist in the top 25.

Only 13.2% of the artwork in the museums analyzed was created by a female artist, the study reported.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: What to know about artist Georgia O’Keeffe, a Wisconsin native