It Was Yellow and Pink III

Georgia O'KeeffeWW-1960-029402

1960·Oil on canvas·101.6 × 76.6 cm (40 × 30 1/8 in.)

<p>With its sinuous lines of yellow against a pink backdrop, this painting can be seen as purely abstract, without a reference to the natural world. However, <em>It Was Yellow and Pink III</em> actually represents something Georgia O’Keeffe directly perceived. Having recently started traveling by airplane, the artist described how she was captivated by the view from far above: “I went around the world—and I noticed a surprising number of deserts and wonderful rivers. The rivers actually seem to come up and hit you in the eye.”</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1960
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 101.6 × 76.6 cm (40 × 30 1/8 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Georgia O'Keeffe

Artist

Georgia O'Keeffe

Painting

One of the most successful artists of the 20th century, Georgia O’Keeffe enjoyed a long and varied artistic career in which she introduced many new aesthetic perspectives and approaches in Modernism. Born in Wisconsin in 1887, she studied at the Art Institute of Chicago beginning in 1905 before taking teaching position in South Carolina, Virginia and Texas. She moved to New York City in 1918 at the age of 31 where she became part of the artistic milieu of her future husband photographer Alfred Stieglitz. In these years, she became fascinated with the fast pace of city life and produced paintings highlighting the city’s soaring skyscrapers as symbols of the modern world.

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