The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) has opened an exhibition exploring a lesser-known facet of Georgia O’Keeffe’s work, focusing on her architectural paintings. The show, titled "Georgia O’Keeffe: Architecture," runs from September 11 through January 3 and features nearly 40 works that highlight the artist’s engagement with urban and built environments alongside her more familiar depictions of flowers, landscapes, and organic forms.
Curated by Ben Colman, the exhibition was inspired by O’Keeffe’s 1932 painting "Stables," a piece in the DIA’s collection that represents a quiet, geometrically precise rural scene. Colman noted that "Stables" prompted a fresh examination of O’Keeffe’s approach to architectural subjects, encouraging a focus on the interplay of texture, color, and form beyond the artist’s more celebrated organic imagery.
The show traces O’Keeffe’s depiction of various architectural motifs, ranging from farm structures in upstate New York and Quebec to the towering skyscrapers of New York City. During the 1920s and 1930s, O’Keeffe lived with her husband, Alfred Stieglitz, in a series of apartments on upper floors of the Shelton Hotel, then one of the tallest residential buildings in the world. From these high vantage points, she created a series of cityscapes capturing the industrial character of Manhattan’s East River area, including smokestacks and dense urban buildings. These works diverge from her well-known floral and desert subjects but, according to Colman, demonstrate her evolving ability to convey the "spirit and character" of place through built forms—a talent she later applied to New Mexico’s adobe architecture.
Among the highlights is a 1949 portrayal of the Brooklyn Bridge, painted as O’Keeffe was preparing to leave New York. The work abstracts the bridge’s arches and suspension cables in a manner reminiscent of stained glass, blending realism and abstraction to evoke a moment of transition. Colman described the piece as "deeply personal," reflecting the artist’s emotional departure from the city.
The exhibition also showcases a series of paintings focused on a simple patio door from O’Keeffe’s home in Abiquiu, New Mexico, which she purchased in 1945 and restored over several years. These near-abstract works, created in the 1940s and 1950s, emphasize subtle variations in color and minimalistic geometric forms. They are noted for their influence on and connections to contemporaneous abstract artists such as Agnes Martin and Mark Rothko. One of Martin’s letters to O’Keeffe praised this series for expanding the possibilities of human emotional response through color and form.
Interactive digital installations within the exhibition enable visitors to virtually experience locations integral to O’Keeffe’s architectural works, including the upper floors of the Shelton Hotel and her Abiquiu patio. These immersive components aim to deepen audience engagement with the environments that shaped the artist’s vision.
Colman emphasized that the show reveals a distinct chapter in O’Keeffe’s career, underscored by her relationships with architects and designers. He suggested that this body of work has remained largely underappreciated and that its exploration offers new insight into her artistic legacy. "It’s a really exciting story," he said, “to see these rich connections that inspired her to engage with the built environment for many years.”
"Georgia O’Keeffe: Architecture" provides audiences with an opportunity to reconsider the artist’s oeuvre through the lens of her architectural subjects, broadening the understanding of her contributions to American modernism.