Spring

Description

In Spring, Georgia O’Keeffe painted the small building that housed her husband Alfred Stieglitz’s darkroom in Lake George, New York. The couple often treated the same subjects in their art, and Stieglitz photographed this building the same year, choosing a snowy day. Here, O’Keeffe selected a springtime view, employing lush pastel colors for the abundant flowering trees. She also made changes that emphasize her artistic choices as a painter: she simplified the architecture by omitting the house’s chimney, window, and horizontal siding; and she enlarged and curved the flagpole, accentuating the picture’s vertical format.

Provenance

Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986), New York and New Mexico, then Abiquiú, NM, from 1949; sold to Paul Rosenbaum (1897–1982) and Gabriella Rosenbaum (1905–2000; born Gabriella Kramer), Chicago and Palm Springs, FL, 1967 [documentation in curatorial object file]; by descent to Gabriella Rosenbaum; bequeathed to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2002.

Spring

Georgia O'Keeffe

1923–24

Accession Number

158751

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

45.7 × 35.4 cm (18 × 14 in.)

Classification

oil on canvas

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Bequest of Paul and Gabriella Rosenbaum