After seeing a documentary about her life and then reading some biographies, I became fascinated by the life story and the artworks of the groundbreaking, controversial, and prolific American artist, Georgia O’Keeffe.

I was thrilled when hubs agreed to stop at her museum and gallery in Santa Fe so I could complete another bucket list item. Hubs loves museums, but this would be his first ever visit to an art gallery. He truly does spoil me.

We arrived at the gallery just as it was opening for the day, and already there was a considerable line-up. A sign outside said that online reservations were recommended. My heart sank. We stayed in line anyways in the hopes that some with reservations wouldn’t show up. As we neared the desk, a flashing sign on the wall behind it said that walk-ups were now closed and they were allowing reservations only. I was ready to walk away in defeat, disappointment, and devastation (all of the sad d-words) but hubs insisted that we stay in line, “just in case”.

When we got to the desk, we were told that we could purchase admission tickets for a later time that day. Hubs explained that we were from Canada and were on a bit of a restricted timeline, and voila! … We were allowed in … just like that!

One of Georgia O’Keeffe’s New Mexico homes is located 50 miles north of Santa Fe and is open to tourists (by reservation only) . This house would have also been wonderful to see, but the gallery and museum in Santa Fe was my goal and here we were!

Most known for her controversial close up paintings of flowers in her early years, as the years went on, she became much more diverse in her art
This was one of my favourites
Another Favourite
It was surreal to see some of her tools and paints
When she developed macular degeneration, she turned to pottery
A world traveller and still a homebody – she loved to cook and grew her own vegetables
Modest clothing for a modest lifestyle in New Mexico
Her famous portrait suit
Lover of all things nature

The gallery houses over 150 oil paintings and hundreds of other artworks in other mediums including charcoal, pencil sketches, and watercolours. Each artwork has has an information placard beside it, and it was soon very apparent that hubs was becoming as interested in this exhibit as I was. In addition to the artwork, there’s an entire room full of items from Georgia O’Keeffe’s kitchen, her studio, and her wardrobe.

The visit took a little less than two hours. Out of the entire collection, there were only a few artworks that we weren’t allowed to photograph.

Photo Note: All I did with the photos in this post was slightly adjust white balance and correct perspective as much as possible. The museum lighting was surprisingly very good for photography.

“I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life and I’ve never let it keep me from a single thing that I wanted to do.”

Georgia O’Keeffe