Georgia O’Keeffe:
To See Takes Time

April 09, 2023 – August 12, 2023

The Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art announces Georgia O’Keeffe: To See Takes Time, the first exhibition to investigate the artist’s works on paper made in series. Using charcoal, watercolor, pastel, and graphite, she explored forms and phenomena—from abstract rhythms to nature’s cycles—across multiple examples. Some of these sequences also gave rise to related paintings, which will be installed alongside these works on paper. On view in MoMA’s third-floor south galleries from April 9 through August 12, 2023, the exhibition reveals a lesser-known side of this artist, foregrounding O’Keeffe’s persistently modern process on paper. Over 120 works created over more than four decades—including key examples from MoMA’s collection—demonstrate the ways in which O’Keeffe developed, repeated, and changed motifs that blur the boundary between observation and abstraction. Seen together, these works demonstrate how drawing in series allowed O’Keeffe to revisit and rework subjects throughout her career, and reveal the thoughtful material choices behind her resplendent compositions.

The exhibition is organized by Samantha Friedman, Associate Curator, Department of Drawings and Prints, with Laura Neufeld, Associate Paper Conservator, The David Booth Conservation Department, and Emily Olek, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Drawings and Prints. Realized with the participation of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe.

The exhibition is sponsored by Getty through The Paper Project initiative.

Leadership funding is provided by the Xin Zhang and Shiyi Pan Endowment Fund and the Kate W. Cassidy Foundation.

Major support is provided by The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art and by the Dian Woodner Exhibition Endowment Fund.

Generous funding is provided by the Robert Lehman Foundation.

Additional support is provided by David Bushler.

The Bloomberg Connects digital experience is made possible through the support of Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Press Kit

Images

Important: By downloading images you are agreeing to the following permissions: Images are provided exclusively to the press, and only for purposes of publicity of The Museum of Modern Art's and MoMA PS1's current and upcoming exhibitions, programs, and news announcements. Permission to use images is granted only to the extent of the Museum's and MoMA PS1's ownership rights relating to those images—the responsibility for any additional permissions remains solely with the party reproducing the images. The images must be accompanied by the credit line and any copyright information as it appears above, and the party reproducing the images must not distort or mutilate the images.

NOTE: All images of works by Georgia O’Keeffe must represent the entire work unaltered by cropping, overprinting, superimposing, or bleeding to the edges, and must appear fully captioned and with copyright notice as provided.

Georgia O’Keeffe. Evening Star No. II, 1917. Watercolor on paper. 8 3/4 × 12″ (22.2 × 30.5 cm). Courtesy Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas. Photography by Dwight Primiano. © 2022 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Georgia O’Keeffe. Evening Star No.III, 1917. Watercolor on paper mounted on board. 8 7/8 x 11 7/8″ (22.7 x 30.4 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Donald B. Straus Fund, 1958. © 2022 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Georgia O’Keeffe. Evening Star, 1917. Watercolor on paper. 13 3/8 x 17 11/16” (34 x 45 cm). Yale University Art Gallery. The John Hill Morgan, B.A. 1893, LL.B. 1896, M.A. (Hon.) 1929, Fund, the Leonard C. Hanna, Jr., Class of 1913, Fund, and Gifts of Friends in Honor of Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., B.A. 1960. © 2022 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Georgia O’Keeffe. No. 12 Special, 1916. Charcoal on paper. 24 x 19″ (61 x 48.3 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of The Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation, 1995. © 2022 The Museum of Modern Art / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Georgia O’Keeffe. No. 8 – Special (Drawing No. 8), 1916. Charcoal on paper. Sheet (Irregular): 24 1/2 × 18 7/8in. (62.2 × 47.9 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Mr. and Mrs. Arthur G. Altschul Purchase Fund. © 2022 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Georgia O’Keeffe. Special No.39, 1919. Charcoal on paper. 19 5/8 x 12 3/4″ (49.8 x 32.4 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of The Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation, 1995. © 2022 The Museum of Modern Art / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Georgia O’Keeffe. An Orchid, 1941. Pastel on paper mounted on board. 27 5/8 x 21 3/4″ (70.2 x 55.2 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Bequest of Georgia O’Keeffe, 1990. © 2022 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Georgia O’Keeffe. Drawing X, 1959. Charcoal on paper. 24 7/8 x 18 5/8″ (63.2 x 47.3 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller (by exchange), 1972. © 2022 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Georgia O’Keeffe. Train at Night in the Desert, 1916. Watercolor and pencil on paper. 11 7/8 x 8 7/8″ (30.3 x 22.5 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Acquired with matching funds from the Committee on Drawings and the National Endowment for the Arts, 1979. © 2022 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Georgia O’Keeffe. Eagle Claw and Bean Necklace, 1934. Charcoal on paper. 19 x 25 1/8″ (48.5 x 63.9 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Given anonymously (by exchange), 1936. © 2022 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Georgia O’Keeffe. It Was Yellow and Pink III, 1960. Oil on canvas, 40 × 30″ (101.6 × 76.2 cm). The Art Institute of Chicago. Alfred Stieglitz Collection, bequest of Georgia O’Keeffe. © 2023 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Georgia O’Keeffe. Blue Lines X, 1916. Watercolor and pencil on paper, 25 × 19″ (63.5 × 48.3 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Alfred Stieglitz Collection, 1969. © 2023 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Georgia O’Keeffe. Over Blue, 1918. Pastel on paper
28 × 22″ (71.1 × 55.9 cm). Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester. Bequest of Anne G. Whitman. © 2023 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Georgia O’Keeffe. Seated Nude XI, 1917. Watercolor on paper. 11 7/8 × 8 7/8″ (30.2 × 22.5 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Milton Petrie Gift, 1981. © 2023 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Georgia O’Keeffe. Blue Hill No. II, 1916. Watercolor on paper, 8 7/8 × 11 15/16″ (22.5 × 30.3 cm). Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe. Gift of Dr. and Mrs. John B. Chewning. © 2023 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Georgia O’Keeffe. Beauford Delaney, 1943. Pastel on paper, 15 1/4 × 11 1/2″ (38.7 × 29.2 cm). Myron Kunin Collection of American Art, Minneapolis. © 2023 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Georgia O’Keeffe. Lightning at Sea, 1922. Pastel on paper, 19 × 25 1/4″ (48.3 × 64.1 cm). Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Gift of the William H. Lane Foundation. © 2023 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Installation view of Georgia O’Keeffe: To See Takes Time, on view at The Museum of Modern Art, New York from April 9 through August 12, 2023. Photo by Jonathan Dorado

Cover of Georgia O’Keeffe: To See Takes Time, published by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2023.

Georgia O’Keeffe:To See Takes Time

Press Kit

Images

Georgia O’Keeffe:
To See Takes Time