Whenever you hear the title Georgia O’Keeffe, structure might not instantly come to thoughts. “So many individuals know Georgia O’Keeffe as a painter of flowers, or possibly they know her landscapes, or her work of bones; so, one thing like a barn, I do know, is a shock for many individuals,” mentioned curator Ben Colman. “Curiously, flower footage characterize solely about 10% of her art work.”
A brand new exhibit on the Detroit Institute of Arts, titled “Georgia O’Keeffe: Structure,” is portray a unique portrait of the artist, showcasing her architectural works by way of an autobiographical lens. Â
© 2026 The Georgia O’Keeffe Basis/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. 
“We’re wanting on the locations the place she lived and labored, the locations that have been actually formative to her as a person and as a painter,” mentioned Colman.
O’Keeffe was born in 1887 on a Wisconsin dairy farm, a supply of inspiration in her works. “When she painted [“My Shanty, Lake George”], she needed to problem what she thought-about misunderstandings of her artwork,” mentioned Colman. “She was very acutely aware, and possibly self-conscious, about deciding on topics that may not be perceived as sometimes female of their composition.”
The Philips Assortment, Washington, D.C. © 2026 The Georgia O’Keeffe Basis/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. 
She would later reside in Manhattan, simply as skyscrapers started to redefine the town within the Nineteen Twenties.
“She pays particular consideration to what she referred to as the sky shapes, the damaging house of sky, moon, and clouds that she noticed across the buildings,” Colman mentioned.
Brooklyn Museum. © 2026 The Georgia O’Keeffe Basis/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. 
O’Keeffe ultimately moved to New Mexico, the place she discovered herself surrounded by adobe constructions and desert landscapes.
Over the course of her profession, O’Keeffe would go on to finish about 140 architectural work. Colman mentioned, “These are footage the place she’s asking questions concerning the nature of the locations the place she lived, concerning the qualities of sunshine, environment, and texture of the buildings that she painted.”
Assortment of the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Artwork, Indianapolis. © 2026 The Georgia O’Keeffe Basis/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. 
Georgia O’Keeffe died in 1986 at 98 years outdated, her legacy grounded in an unlimited physique of labor, cementing her presence in American artwork.
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Story produced by Liza Monasebian. Editor: Chad Cardin.
FROM THE ARCHIVES: Watch a celebration of Georgia O’Keeffe (Video)
In a narrative that aired Aug. 30, 1981, “Sunday Morning” visited Georgia O’Keeffe, who turned inextricably linked to the landscapes and desert flowers of New Mexico. To honor the artist, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Pageant had commissioned and devoted to O’Keeffe a piano quintet by composer John Harbison – music that, like O’Keeffe’s work, interprets stark and unfilled areas. Reported by Bruce Morton.
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