Georgia O’Keeffe Gets Caught in a Storm

In a May 4, 1922, letter from York Beach, Maine, Georgia O’Keeffe reported, “Yesterday I tried three of the waves—am going to work at it again in a little while.” She had picked up some pastels in Boston on the way, and was now using them to record the surges and swells of her ocean view. The result was a series of compositions that trace the shifting seascape from cresting foam to crashing storm. For Georgia O’Keeffe: To See Takes Time, I partnered with paper conservator Laura Neufeld; below, we talk about O’Keeffe’s time in Maine and how she documented and experienced an approaching storm.
—Samantha Friedman, Associate Curator, Department of Drawings and Prints