Timeline

Explore this overview of the life of Georgia O’Keeffe.

1887
November 15: Georgia Totto O’Keeffe born to Francis Calyxtus O’Keeffe and Ida Totto O’Keeffe at family dairy farm, near Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, the first girl and the second of seven children, including Francis Calyxtus (1885-1959), Ida Ten Eyck (1889-1961), Anita Natalie (1891-1985), Alexius Wyckoff (1892-1930), Catherine Blanche (1895-1987), and Claudia Ruth (1899-1984

1892–1900
Attends Town Hall School and, along with sisters Ida and Anita, receives art lessons at home; furthers art instruction with Sarah Mann, a local watercolorist.

1901–1902
Attends Sacred Heart Academy in Madison, Wisconsin, for first year of high school (as boarder); receives art instruction from Sister Angelique.

1902
Fall: O’Keeffe family moves to Williamsburg, Virginia.

1902-1903
As a sophomore, attends Madison High School; lives with her aunt, Leonore (“Lola”) Totto. June 1903: joins family in Williamsburg.

1903–1905
Fall 1903: attends Chatham (Virginia) Episcopal Institute, as a boarder. June 1905: graduates. Elizabeth May Willis, Chatham’s principal and art instructor, recognizes and encourages O’Keeffe’s interest in art. In senior year O’Keeffe serves as art editor of the school yearbook Mortar Board.

1905-1906
Fall 1905: attends School of The Art Institute of Chicago and studies with John Vanderpoel; lives with uncle and aunt, Charles and Alletta Totto. Summer 1906: with family in Williamsburg, recovering from lingering illness; remains there through the next summer.

1907-1908
Fall-spring: attends Art Students League, New York; studies with William Merritt Chase, F. Luis Mora, and Kenyon Cox; rooms with Florence Cooney. January 1908: attends exhibition of works on paper by Auguste Rodin at The Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession (291), operated by Alfred Stieglitz; sits for portrait by fellow student Eugene Speicher. April 1908: possibly sees exhibition of works by Henri Matisse at 291. June 1908: awarded League’s 1907-8 Still Life Scholarship. Summer 1908: as scholarship winner, attends League’s Outdoor School at Lake George, New York.

1908-1911
Fall 1908: moves to Chicago to work as free-lance commercial artist, again living with uncle and aunt, the Tottos. Around 1910: becomes ill with measles and moves to Charlottesville, Virginia, to live with mother, sisters, and brothers, who move there from Williamsburg sometime in 1909. Fall 1911: temporarily takes over Miss Willis’s teaching schedule at Chatham Episcopal Institute, who indicates in 1912 letter, “Miss O’Keeffe had charge of my Art Department last fall.”

1912
Summer: attends drawing class at University of Virginia, Charlottesville, taught by Alon Bement, of Teachers College, Columbia University, who introduces her to ideas of his mentor, artist-teacher Arthur Wesley Dow, head of Art Department at Teachers College.August: moves to Amarillo, Texas, as supervisor of drawing and penmanship in public schools; holds position through spring 1914.

1913
Summer: returns to Charlottesville to work as Bement’s assistant at University of Virginia (and continues to teach there summers through 1916).

1914-1915
Meets Arthur Macmahon, a political science professor from Columbia University, who is teaching summer school at University of Virginia and with whom she becomes close friends.
Fall 1914: enrolls at Teachers College, Columbia University.
December 1914-March 1915: attends exhibitions of works by Georges Braque, John Marin, and Pablo Picasso at 291.
Fall 1915: moves to Columbia, South Carolina, to teach art at Columbia College.
October 1915: makes decision to chart new direction for her art and produces seminal series of charcoal abstractions, some of which she sends to her friend Anita Pollitzer in New York during the period October-December.

1916
January: Pollitzer takes group of O’Keeffe’s charcoal drawings to Stieglitz at 291 on New Year’s Day. O’Keeffe sends Pollitzer additional work and begins a thirty-year correspondence with Stieglitz, which is particularly intense in 1916-18.
March: returns to Teachers College to attend the Dow course in methods specified by West Texas State Normal College, Canyon, as prerequisite to assuming position there.
May 1: mother dies in Charlottesville; attends funeral following day.
May 23: Stieglitz opens group show at 291 that includes some of O’Keeffe’s charcoal drawings.
June: leaves New York for Virginia to teach with Bement.
Late August: moves to Texas to begin teaching job. Stieglitz includes O’Keeffe work in an informal group show at 291.

1917
April 3: Stieglitz opens Georgia O’Keeffe, first one-person show of her work, at 291;
August: vacations in and around Ward, Colorado, with sister Claudia. On way back to Texas, stops in Santa Fe for first time and is immediately impressed by New Mexico’s vast skies and vistas and the stark beauty of its landscape forms.
Early winter: becomes ill.

1918
Late February: granted leave of absence from teaching responsibilities and, on February 21, moves first to San Antonio and later, in March, to a farm in Waring, Texas. Relocating rejuvenates O’Keeffe.
May: Stieglitz sends Strand to Texas to discover if O’Keeffe would consider moving to New York.
June 10: O’Keeffe and Strand arrive in New York, and O’Keeffe moves into studio apartment at 114 East 59th Street that Stieglitz’s niece, Elizabeth, is not using.
July 8: Stieglitz leaves Emmeline Obermeyer Stieglitz, his wife since 1893, to live with O’Keeffe. That month, he begins photographing O’Keeffe in earnest, and she resigns from West Texas State, accepting Stieglitz’s offer to underwrite a year of painting.
November 11: O’Keeffe’s father dies in Petersburg, Virginia.

1921
February 7: Stieglitz retrospective exhibition opens at The Anderson Galleries (145 prints, 1886-1921); several nudes within the 45 photographs of O’Keeffe create sensation with public and critics.

1923
January 29: Stieglitz opens Alfred Stieglitz Presents One Hundred Pictures: Oils, Water-colors, Pastels, Drawings, by Georgia O’Keeffe, American, an exhibition of over 100 works at The Anderson Galleries. He organizes exhibitions of her work annually until his death in 1946.

1924
March: Stieglitz opens Alfred Stieglitz Presents Fifty-One Recent Pictures: Oils, Water-colors, Pastels, Drawings, by Georgia O’Keeffe, American, at The Anderson Galleries and, simultaneously, opens an exhibition of 61 of his photographs.
September 9: Stieglitz’s divorce from wife finalized.
November: O’Keeffe and Stieglitz move to apartment at 35 East 58th Street and, on December 11, are married in Cliffside Park, New Jersey.

1925
March: Stieglitz opens Alfred Stieglitz Presents Seven Americans: 159 Paintings, Photographs & Things, Recent & Never Before Publicly Shown, by Arthur G. Dove, Marsden Hartley, John Marin, Charles Demuth, Paul Strand, Georgia O’Keeffe, Alfred Stieglitz at The Anderson Galleries, in which O’Keeffe’s large-format paintings of flowers are first exhibited.
Mid-November: O’Keeffe and Stieglitz move to the Shelton Hotel, on Lexington Avenue between 48th and 49th, living first on 12th floor and, subsequently, on other floors until 1936, when they move to 405 East 54th Street.

1926
February: Stieglitz opens Fifty Recent Paintings, by Georgia O’Keeffe, at The Intimate Gallery, which includes first of many depictions of New York architecture completed between 1925 and 1932.

1927
January: Stieglitz opens Georgia O’Keeffe: Paintings, 1926, at The Intimate Gallery.
April: O’Keeffe at Lake George.
June: first retrospective, Paintings by Georgia O’Keeffe, opens at The Brooklyn Museum.

1928
January: Stieglitz opens O’Keeffe Exhibition, at The Intimate Gallery.
April 21: he announces sale of six O’Keeffe calla lily paintings for $25,000.

1929
February 4-March 17: Stieglitz opens Georgia O’Keeffe: Paintings, 1928, at The Intimate Gallery.
April 27: O’Keeffe and artist Rebecca Strand (wife of photographer Paul Strand) leave for Santa Fe, New Mexico; after arrival, move to Taos as guests of arts supporter-writer
Mabel Dodge Luhan, who provides O’Keeffe a studio.
December 13: Paintings by 19 Living Americans, with five works by O’Keeffe, opens at the Museum of Modern Art.
December 15: Stieglitz opens final gallery, An American Place, in Room 1710, 509 Madison Avenue, with Marin exhibition.

1930
February: Stieglitz opens Georgia O’Keeffe: 27 New Paintings, New Mexico, New York, Lake George, Etc., at An American Place, which includes earliest paintings of New Mexico crosses and of San Francisco de Assís Church in Ranchos de Taos.
Late April: O’Keeffe to New Mexico.
June-September: O’Keeffe guest of Luhans in Taos.

1931
December 27: Stieglitz opens Georgia O’Keeffe: 33 New Paintings (New Mexico) at An American Place, the first exhibition with paintings of bones.

1932
April: O’Keeffe accepts $1500 commission to paint mural for powder room in Radio City Music Hall, scheduled to open at end of year.
June and August: travels to Canada and paints barns, crosses, and the sea.
October: faced with technical and other difficulties, abandons Radio City Music Hall commission and stops painting entirely.

1933
January: Stieglitz opens Georgia O’Keeffe: Paintings—New & Some Old, at An American Place. O’Keeffe becomes ill and moves to New York apartment of sister Anita Young.
February: admitted to Doctor’s Hospital, suffering from psychoneurosis. From March through April: recuperates in Bermuda. In October, is recovered enough to begin drawing at Lake George.

1934
January: begins painting after 13-month hiatus, and on January 29, Stieglitz opens Georgia O’Keeffe at “An American Place,” 44 Selected Paintings 1915-1927.
March-April: O’Keeffe again travels to Bermuda.
June: travels to New Mexico.
August: first visit to Ghost Ranch, a dude ranch north of Abiquiu. Stunning landscape configurations around Ghost Ranch provide new inspiration for O’Keeffe’s work.

1935
January: Stieglitz opens Georgia O’Keeffe: Exhibition of Paintings (1919-1934), at An American Place.
July: travels to New Mexico, and until August 2, stays at Garland’s ranch, then moves to room at Ghost Ranch.

1936
January: Stieglitz opens Georgia O’Keeffe: Exhibition of Recent Paintings, 1935, at An American Place.
April: O’Keeffe and Stieglitz move from Shelton Hotel to penthouse apartment at 405 East 54th Street.
June: O’Keeffe travels to New Mexico; first summer living in the house at Ghost Ranch she buys in 1940, Rancho de los Burros.
July- Fall: receives $10,000 commission from Elizabeth Arden to make large painting for new exercise salon in New York.

1937
February: Stieglitz opens Georgia O’Keeffe: New Paintings, An American Place, New York, N.Y.
July: O’Keeffe to New Mexico.
December: Stieglitz opens Georgia O’Keeffe: The 14th Annual Exhibition of Paintings With Some Recent O’Keeffe Letters, at An American Place.

1938
May: O’Keeffe travels to Williamsburg, Virginia, to receive honorary degree from College of William and Mary, the first of many she would receive during her lifetime.
Summer: O’Keeffe receives commission from advertising agency N. W. Ayer to travel to Hawaii to produce paintings for a Dole Company promotional campaign.
August: O’Keeffe to New Mexico.

1939
January: Stieglitz opens Georgia O’Keeffe: Exhibition of Oils And Pastels, at An American Place.
Late January-April: O’Keeffe travels to Hawaii.

1940
February: Stieglitz opens Georgia O’Keeffe: Exhibition of Oils and Pastels, at An American Place.
August: O’Keeffe to New Mexico.

1941
January: Stieglitz opens Exhibition of Georgia O’Keeffe, at An American Place.
May: O’Keeffe to New Mexico.

1942
February: Stieglitz opens Georgia O’Keeffe: Exhibition of Recent Paintings, 1941, at An American Place.
June: O’Keeffe to New Mexico.
December: O’Keeffe moves with Stieglitz to 59 East 54th Street, her last New York address.

1943
January: O’Keeffe in Chicago to install and attend events related to opening of retrospective, Georgia O’Keeffe, at the Art Institute of Chicago.
March: Stieglitz opens Georgia O’Keeffe: Paintings-1942-1943, at An American Place.
April: O’Keeffe to New Mexico.

1944
January: Stieglitz opens Georgia O’Keeffe: Paintings—1943, at An American Place.
April: O’Keeffe to New Mexico.

1945
January: Stieglitz opens Georgia O’Keeffe: Paintings, 1944, at An American Place.
May: O’Keeffe to New Mexico.
December: purchases Abiquiu property from Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Fe.

1946
February: Stieglitz opens Georgia O’Keeffe, at An American Place. O’Keeffe begins organizing retrospective, Georgia O’Keeffe, to open at The Museum of Modern Art in May.
July 13: Stieglitz dies.
Late September: O’Keeffe returns to New Mexico.

1947
January through early summer: O’Keeffe in New York (where she primarily lives until 1949), working to settle the Stieglitz Estate, which results in the distribution of his art collection to numerous public institutions.

1949
June: leaves New York to live permanently in New Mexico, where she habitually spends winter and spring in Abiquiu and summer and fall at Ghost Ranch.

1950
July: O’Keeffe begins organizing Georgia O’Keeffe: Paintings 1946-1950, to open at An American Place in October. Edith Halpert, owner of The Downtown Gallery, becomes O’Keeffe’s exclusive agent.

1951
February-March: O’Keeffe travels to Mexico for six weeks with Spud Johnson, Elliot Porter, and Porter’s wife, Aline. Trip includes drive to Yucatán with Rose and Miguel Covarrubias and meets Diego Rivera and Frieda Kahlo.

1959
Brother Francis dies.
January-April: travels via San Francisco and Honolulu to Southeast Asia, the Far East, India, the Middle East, and Italy.

1960
July: O’Keeffe helps organize Georgia O’Keeffe: Forty Years of Her Art, the retrospective that opens in October at the Worcester (Mass.) Art Museum.
Late October-November: O’Keeffe makes second trip to Asia.

1961
Sister Ida dies.
Spring: helps organize and install what will be her last exhibition at The Downtown Gallery, Georgia O’Keeffe: Recent Paintings and Drawings, which opens in early April.

1963
Doris Bry becomes O’Keeffe’s exclusive agent.

1965
Summer: in garage at Ghost Ranch paints her largest clouds picture.

1966
March: attends opening of retrospective, Georgia O’Keeffe: An Exhibition of the Work of the Artist from 1915 to 1966, at the Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Fort Worth.

1970
Early October: installs retrospective, Georgia O’Keeffe, at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

1971
Early in year: loses central vision; retains only peripheral sight.

1972
During year, completes last unassisted oil painting, though continues to work in oil with assistance until 1977. (Works unassisted in watercolor and charcoal until 1978 and in graphite until 1984.)

1973
November: meets potter-sculptor Juan Hamilton, who becomes her assistant and, later, her close friend and representative. (Among other things, Hamilton is a travelling companion and facilitator, making possible completion of several projects, including Viking Press publication Georgia O’Keeffe [1976] and Perry Miller Adato video Georgia O’Keeffe [1977]).

1977
January: receives Medal of Freedom from President Gerald Ford.

1984
March: O’Keeffe moves, with Hamilton and family, to large house in Santa Fe, Sol y Sombra, to be nearer medical facilities.

1985
Sister Anita Young dies. Awarded National Medal of Arts by President Ronald Reagan.

1986
March 6: O’Keeffe dies at St. Vincent’s Hospital, Santa Fe.