Red Canna 1923

Georgia O’Keeffe made this Red Canna painting with oils on canvas. You can see that O’Keeffe built up the surface with thin, smooth layers of paint. The colors blend into each other, but also exist as separate forms. It's like a dance between precision and blurriness, control and letting go. Look at the soft edges around the red petals, how they seem to breathe and expand. It feels like she's inviting us to get lost in the folds and curves, almost like we're looking into a secret world. O'Keeffe's way of zooming in on flowers reminds me of the photographer Imogen Cunningham, who also found the abstract in the natural world. But O'Keeffe adds a layer of emotion, making the flower feel both sensual and powerful. It’s never just about the flower, but how the artist saw it. And it’s never just one way to see it.