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How did the landscape of West Texas influence Georgia O’Keeffe’s paintings?

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Alfred Stieglitz: photograph of Georgia O'Keeffe — Georgia O’Keeffe Georgia O'Keeffe, photograph by Alfred Stieglitz, 1922.

In the fall of 1916, Georgia O’Keeffe moved to Canyon, Texas, to serve as the head of the art department at West Texas State Normal College. Her time in the region profoundly influenced her artistic development, as she responded deeply to the vast plains, open skies, and the dramatic landscape configurations of the nearby Palo Duro Canyon.1

These West Texas surroundings fueled her ongoing fascination with abstraction as a primary means of personal expression. The works she completed during this period, particularly watercolors such as Sunrise and Little Clouds II (1916), Evening Star No. VII (1917), and Light Coming on the Plains No. II (1917), serve as clear demonstrations of this influence. Her experience with the exhilarating landscape of the West Texas plains was so significant that it remained a touchstone for her creativity, later helping her recognize the similar inspiration she would find in the landscape of New Mexico.12