Georgia O' Keeffe: The Solitary Life of an Artist

Georgia O’Keeffe in the bedroom at Abiquiu. John Loengard / The LIFE Picture Collection

I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life - and I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do.

—Georgia O’Keeffe

By the late 1920s, painter Georgia O’Keeffe was already an established artist, renowned for her abstract, sensual flower paintings and New York cityscapes.

“If you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for a moment.”

Despite her success, though, she felt increasingly stifled—both creatively and personally. She was deeply entangled in her relationship with photographer and art dealer Alfred Stieglitz, whose influence had been both supportive and controlling.

Over time, the weight of expectations—both from the public and from Stieglitz—left her feeling artistically constrained. But their intense passion for each other endured till his death.

Her breaking point came around 1928-1929.