Hollyhock Pink with Pedernal 1937

Georgia O'Keeffe made Hollyhock Pink with Pedernal using oil paint and a dreamy eye. Look at how she coaxes those curves with a limited palette. It's all about how the paint is applied. The smoothness, the blending – it's almost meditative. The physicality of the medium is downplayed. It's smooth, almost like a photograph in its clarity, but the subject matter takes it somewhere else. It’s less about what you’re looking at, and more about how you are seeing it. Take the mountain: it’s so blue! The whole landscape has an otherworldly feel. It reminds me of Marsden Hartley's landscapes, those simple shapes, and strong colours. O'Keeffe takes it further into her own space, though. A space where things aren't quite real, but feel deeply true. That's the magic, right? Creating ambiguity.