Georgia O'Keeffe was one of America's greatest artists. She was born in 1887 in the state of Wisconsin, one of seven children. She studied at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1905-06 and then moved to New York, where her career took off. She moved to New Mexico in 1946 and painted many famous landscapes of the scenery there. Her unique works can be viewed in galleries across the world. O'Keeffe first came to the attention of the New York art community for her large-format paintings of flower blossoms that looked like close-ups. She met well-known photographer Alfred Stieglitz, who gave O'Keeffe her first gallery show in 1916. The two married in 1924. Some of her popular works from this early period include Black Iris (1926) and Oriental Poppies (1928).
After her husband died in 1946, O'Keeffe moved to New Mexico. There, she was inspired by the landscape to create numerous well-known paintings. Also in 1946, New York's Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) held an exhibition of her life's work – its first ever for a woman artist. O'Keeffe also won many accolades and was given honorary degrees from various universities. In 1972, O'Keeffe's eyesight started to fail. She stopped painting in oil but continued working in pencil andcharcoal until 1984. In 1977, President Ford presented O'Keeffe with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor given to U.S. citizens. O'Keeffe died on March 6, 1986, in Santa Fe, Mexico, aged 98. She is widely recognized as the mother of American modernism.
