Palm Beach Show 2011

Georgia O’Keeffe (American, 1887–1986) Dark Iris No. 2, 1927 Oil on canvas, 32 x 21 inches Collection of Deborah and Ed Shein In warm weather, O’Keeffe left New York City for the more peaceful surroundings of Lake George in upstate New York, where she stayed with Alfred Stieglitz at his family’s summer home. The natural environs of the retreat provided both artists with rich subject matter. In Dark Iris No. 2, O’Keeffe plunges deep into the center of a black iris, pre- senting such an unusual and narrow focus that the painting verges on abstraction. The flower also may be seen as embodying sexual imagery, clouds, or even (turned on its side) the Lake George mountains and water. O’Keeffe alluded to the transformational power of art when she said, “When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else.” 21