Georgia O’Keeffe: Painting Her Own Path – Wisconsin Biographies – PBS Wisconsin Education

How do you make history?

Georgia O’Keeffe was one of America’s most important artists. She grew up on a farm near Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, where she explored the outdoors and developed a love for nature. Deciding early on to become an artist, she worked hard to reach her goals, continuing to study and create even when money was tight or her ideas were different from others. She trained in Chicago and New York, developing a bold, modern style, painting close-up flowers, animal bones, and dramatic landscapes in ways people had never seen before. In the 1940s, she moved to New Mexico, where the desert inspired her for the rest of her life. Through her determination and creativity, O’Keeffe not only changed American art but also showed future generations that it is possible to succeed by staying true to your vision.

Meet Georgia O’Keeffe

View Transcript: English Spanish

View Transcript: English Spanish

Questions to Consider

What was special about Georgia’s way of making art? What skills did she practice when creating drawings and paintings? How do you practice these same skills today?

What were some of the challenges Georgia came up against when she was learning to be an artist? What did she do and why? Can you think of a time when you were challenged while doing something you cared about? What happened? Who or what helped you to deal with the challenge?

How did Georgia’s experiences growing up shape her career as an artist? What is an activity you do now that you enjoy? Imagine doing that for your career! What steps could you take to get there?

Peek Into the Past

A black and white photograph of Georgia O'Keeffe sitting on a mat on the ground with her painting supplies.

Georgia O'Keeffe

Georgia O’Keeffe with her painting supplies.

Image by Alfred Stieglitz

A black and white photograph of a house with wood siding, a small porch entrance, and a large porch on the other side.

Childhood home

Georgia O’Keeffe’s childhood home in Sun Prairie, WI.

Image courtesy of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum

A black and white photograph of a young girl with long hair.

Young Georgia

Georgia O’Keeffe as a young child.

Image courtesy of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum

A pencil drawing of a young child's hands.

Drawing of hands

A drawing of hands that Georgia made as a young girl.

Image courtesy of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum

A black and white photograph of a large brick building with many arched windows and a stone foundation.

Sacred Heart Academy

Sacred Heart Academy in Madison, WI, where Georgia started high school in 1901.

Image courtesy of Edgewood University Library Digital Collections

A color painting of a small glass vase that has branches in it with red flowers and green leaves.

Watercolor painting

A watercolor of a vase with flowers made by Georgia around 1905.

Image courtesy of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum

A black and white image of an ad for the Art Students League of New York, showing the front of the building. Text below the building mentions the classes that are offered.

Art Students League

An ad from 1914 for the Art Students League, where Georgia went to school in 1907.

Image Courtesy of the Getty Research Institute and the Internet Archive

A black and white portrait photo of Georgia O'Keeffe. Her dark hair is tied up.

Photo of Georgia

Yearbook photo of Georgia O’Keeffe from her time teaching in Texas. Note the misspelled last name.

Image courtesy of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum

A black and white photograph of four paintings by Georgia O'Keeffe hanging in a gallery.

Gallery show

A photograph of Georgia O’Keeffe’s first gallery show of just her work.

Image courtesy of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum

A black and white photograph of a young man standing outside in a suit and hat taking a picture with an old-fashioned camera.

Alfred Stieglitz

Georgia’s husband Alfred Stieglitz as a young man in 1886.

Image courtesy of the National Gallery of Art

A black and white photo showing three of Georgia's paintings, two of which are on a wall in the foreground. The main painting shows a close up of a flower.

Georgia's paintings

Some of Georgia’s paintings, including one that shows a close up of a flower.

Image courtesy of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum

A black and white photograph of a landscape, showing some dry ground in the foregroudn, low trees in the midground, and mountains in the distance.

New Mexico

A photograph by Georgia of the New Mexico landscape.

Image courtesy of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum

A color photograph of Georgia O'Keeffe as an older woman. She is outside in the center of the frame wearing a black sweater over a white collared shirt.

Georgia O'Keeffe

A photograph of Georgia in New Mexico.

Image courtesy of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum

A black and white photograph of Georgia standing outside in jeans and a shirt with the sleeves rolled up. She is holding a small cat.

Georgia O'Keeffe

A photograph of Georgia with a cat.

Image courtesy of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum

An image of two pages from a school catalog. The left page has two drawings, one showing a hen and one by Georgia showing a man on a lake duck hunting. The right page has text about the Department of Art.

Georgia's early art

Georgia worked hard at her art, and this drawing (on the lower left) was included in her school catalog.

Image courtesy of Sinsinawa Dominican Archives (www.sinsinawa.org)

A watercolor painting in black and grey. On the right is a silhouette of a windmill in black. The sky has a big grey cloud and smaller windmills are in the far distance.

Windmill

A watercolor of windmills by Georgia O’Keeffe.

Image courtesy of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum

A black and white aerial photo of a farm, showing fields, trees, a house, and several barns and smaller buildings.

O'Keeffe farm

The O’Keeffe family farm in Sun Prairie, WI.

Image courtesy of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum

Read On

Georgia O’Keeffe: Painting Her Own Path

Get the full story with this biography book. Click the image to open the book and start reading. Audio files are available on each page if you’d like to listen along!

Project Credits

Producer
David Boffa

Animation Director
Steve Dorchester

Animator
Ian Glodich

2D Character Rigger
Steve Dorchester
Ian Glodich
Brandon Ribordy

Character and Background Designer
Beth Leak

Animation Title Designer
Katie Campshure

Animation Voice Over
Nichole Scott

Spanish Animation Voice Over
Elimar Ugueto

Animation Sound Design
Zack Sieger

Animation Producer
Philip Ashby

Audiobook Narration
Maureen McCollum

Audiobook Post-production
David Boffa

Captioning
Catie Pfeifer

Translation Services
Rev

Educator Support Materials
Mia Forslund
Jen Kobylecky

Web Design
Charles Barrows

Digital
Mark Riechers
Tim Schneider
John Vieth

Graphic and Motion Design
Katie Campshure
Ian Glodich
John Nichols

Executive Producer
Ryan Hendricks

Director of Education
Megan Monday

Director of Television
Jon Miskowski

Special Thanks
Kathryn Bilotta
Ann Prentice Wagner
YWCA Rock County Summer Camps

Educator Cohort

Laura Callen
Richmond School District
Sussex, WI

Pamela Dempsey
Madison Metropolitan School District and University of Wisconsin–Madison
Madison, WI

Mary Pat Erdmann
Wisconsin Rapids School District and Food and Farm Exploration Center
Wisconsin Rapids, WI

Lisa Husnick
Lodi Elementary School
Lodi, WI

Kristen Keyser
Indian Community School
Franklin, WI

Kerri Lintl
Merrimac Community School
Merrimac, WI

Darcy Maxwell
Summit Environmental School
La Crosse, WI

Susan Plewa
Gaenslen School
Milwaukee, WI

Tanya Schmidt
Oshkosh Area Public Schools
Oshkosh, WI

Mike Scoville
Gibraltar Area School District
Fish Creek, WI

Funding provided by

Timothy William Trout Education Fund
a gift of Monroe and Sandra Trout

Focus Fund for Education

Friends of PBS Wisconsin