Magnificent Beauty: Georgia O’Keeffe and the Art of the Flower

Georgia O’Keeffe 
American, 1887-1986 

White Bird of Paradise, 1939 
Oil on canvas 

Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Gift of Jean Holmes McDonald 

Visual Description: This is a painting of a white bird of paradise flower set against a blush pink, heather gray, and lavender background. The painting is roughly 1 ½ feet tall and a little over 1 foot wide. The flower dominates the center of the canvas, with a few dark blue-green bracts (modified leaves) that are shaped like a crab’s claw sprouting upwards. Creamy white, feather-shaped petals with gold-tinged edges emerge from the bracts and spread out. At the flower’s base is a dark green form with a large light green and white leaf sprouting from it. 

Extended Label Text: In 1939, O’Keeffe was commissioned by an advertising firm to travel to the Hawaiian Islands and create paintings that could be used for a Hawaiian Pineapple Company (later known as Dole Pineapple Company) promotional campaign. Among the works she produced during her nine-week visit, White Bird of Paradise depicts a close-up of the tropical flower set against fields of purple, gray, and pink, foregoing the bloom’s natural setting while still conveying a sense of place through color. O’Keeffe’s enlargement and cropping of the subject combined with the background emphasize the flower’s feather-like forms and nearly make the plant unrecognizable. 

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Georgia O’Keeffe 
Estadounidense, 1887-1986 

Ave del Paraíso Blanca, 1939 
Óleo sobre lienzo 

Museo Georgia O’Keeffe. Obsequio de Jean Holmes McDonald 

Texto de Etiqueta Extendido: En 1939, una empresa de publicidad le encargó a O’Keeffe viajar a las Islas Hawaianas y crear pinturas que pudieran usarse para una campaña promocional de Hawaiian Pineapple Company (más tarde conocida como Dole Pineapple Company). Entre las obras que produjo durante su visita de nueve semanas, Ave del Paraíso Blanca representa un primer plano de la flor tropical frente a campos de color púrpura, gris y rosa, renunciando al entorno natural de la flor y al mismo tiempo transmitiendo una sensación de lugar a través del color. La ampliación y el recorte del sujeto por parte de O’Keeffe, combinados con el fondo, enfatizan las formas similares a plumas de la flor y hacen que la planta sea casi irreconocible.