Beautiful Paintings of Flowers - A Tribute to Georgia O'Keeffe

Throughout the years, artists around the world have striven to create the most beautiful paintings of flowers, but few have achieved the acclaim of Georgia O'Keeffe paintings. This article aims to pay tribute to the work of Georgia O'Keeffe, who succeeded in creating some of the most beautiful paintings of flowers, of all time. To help understand the inspiration behind Georgia O'Keeffe paintings, it will be useful to have a brief overview of Georgia O'Keeffe's biography and influences. Many talented artists have created beautiful paintings, but this article will focus on one who has become most well-known throughout history for their paintings of flowers.

Firstly, let's begin with a brief biography of Georgia O'Keeffe, before we take a look at her remarkable paintings of flowers. O'Keeffe was born in 1887 in Wisconsin, U.S.A, began art lessons at an early age, and continued her love of art beyond high school by studying in Chicago and New York. Initially, she was taught to paint in a realist style, which she rejected, and later studied under Arthur Wesley Dow. Dow emphasized the expression of personal ideas and feelings in art, which inspired Georgia O'Keeffe's later work.

When O'Keeffe began creating paintings of flowers in the 1920s, these became her most famous artworks. In 1928, a series of six Calla Lily paintings by O'Keeffe sold for $25,000 US dollars. This was the most that had ever been paid for a group of paintings by a living American artist. Some of her most well known paintings of flowers are as follows, with a basic description:

From the Lake (1924) - a more abstract work, featuring waves of blue, white and burgundy;
Poppy (1927) - close up of an orange poppy with a black center;
Black Iris III (1926) - an extreme close up, that is representational of white petals with a dark center;
Pansy (1926) - a black pansy with yellow center, and small blue flowers;
Red Canna (1923) - a more abstract work, with layers of crimson and yellow petals.

Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings of flowers were done in such a way that made them appear close-up, as if under a magnifying glass. This perspective reflected her fascination with photography and lenses. O'Keeffe mostly painted in oils, and often used bold, striking colours, combined with feminine shapes and lines. Although, Georgia O'Keeffe died in 1986, her vision lives on today in over 100 public collections of her work, throughout the world. O'Keeffe remains one of the most well known artists of American Modernism, and is most famous for her beautiful paintings of flowers.

If you like Georgia O'Keeffe paintings, but can't afford the price of an original, you might like to check out the affordable work of upcoming Australian artist, Mary Weaver. Mary creates original paintings of flowers, with bold, dramatic colors, using oils on canvas.
Some of Mary's latest works, which are currently available include: "Purple Delight" - featuring a spectacular Louisiana Iris; "Fay's Hippeastrum" - featuring a white Mont Blanc Hippeastrum (also commonly known as an Amaryllis).

Source : Ezinearticles