Georgia O'Keeffe famously painted flowers in enlarged close-up views. By magnifying petals and centers, she turned familiar natural forms into bold compositions that could approach abstraction.
Her flower paintings became some of her most recognizable works, including Black Iris and Jimson Weed. O'Keeffe rejected the idea that every flower image had to be read as a symbolic or erotic statement; she emphasized that enlarging a flower encouraged people to look closely at something they usually passed by.
The flower paintings are only one part of her career. She also painted New York skyscrapers, New Mexico landscapes, animal bones, shells, and abstract forms. This range is why reducing her art to flowers gives an incomplete picture.
Her enlarged floral style became especially prominent during the 1920s and helped make her a leading figure in American modernism.