Alfred Stieglitz died in 1946, changing Georgia O’Keeffe’s life.
Stieglitz died on July 13, 1946, in New York City. He had suffered a series of heart attacks and was 82. O’Keeffe was at his bedside and subsequently became responsible for managing his estate and preserving his artistic legacy.
His death also gave O’Keeffe greater independence in her movements and decisions. She increasingly divided her time between New York and New Mexico before settling permanently in the Southwest. Stieglitz had been both her husband and an important early advocate, but O’Keeffe’s later career continued on its own terms, with major exhibitions and growing recognition of her distinctive modernist style.