Bleeding Heart 1932

Georgia O'Keeffe made this flower painting with oil on canvas, caressing the surface to bring out its velvety texture and intense color. Imagine O’Keefe at work, slowly building up those layers of pink and red. She must have been so intent, almost meditative, as she followed the curves and folds of the petals. I can feel her there, pushing the boundaries of representation, exploring the intimate connection between nature and the body. The way she teases out the form from the white background reminds me of the kind of questions painters ask themselves: How do you make something emerge? How do you make it breathe? There’s an erotic charge to this blooming heart, but it also feels vulnerable, exposed. It's a gesture of seeing with both tenderness and force. O'Keeffe knew a thing or two about how to look at the world. And she shows us how to see it too, by painting what she felt, not just what she saw. Artists are always in conversation with one another, aren't they, building on each other’s discoveries, inspiring new ways of seeing and feeling.