Hollyhock Pink with Pedernal 1937

Georgia O'Keeffe painted this dreamy landscape with its floating flower probably somewhere in New Mexico. The canvas looks to be covered in thin veils of paint. Imagine O'Keeffe layering this blue on blue, like watercolor, with soft, diffused edges. I wonder what she was thinking, juxtaposing the iconic Pedernal mountain with the oversized hollyhock. Maybe she felt like she could just reach out and touch the sky! The pink and white petals, carefully rendered, contrast with the blue, almost cartoon-like mountain range below. This flower reminds me of her other floral paintings, but also of Marsden Hartley's mountain series; it's like she’s playing with scale, perspective, and the idea of what a landscape can be. Artists constantly inspire each other across time, reinventing themes in their own language, don’t you think? O'Keeffe's work encourages us to see the world through her eyes, where flowers become landscapes and mountains float in a sea of blue.