What was Georgia O'Keeffe’s first New York skyscraper subject in her 1920s paintings?

The Shelton Hotel was Georgia O'Keeffe’s first New York skyscraper subject in her 1920s paintings.

O'Keeffe lived at the Shelton Hotel, now known as the New Yorker Hotel, after it opened in 1923. The building’s height and views gave her a direct vantage point on Manhattan’s vertical architecture, which became a major subject in a group of paintings from the 1920s.

Her skyscraper works, including Shelton with Sunspots, New York No. 1, transform towers, windows, and city light into simplified geometric compositions. They show that her art was not limited to flowers and Southwestern landscapes.

The building is sometimes confused with famous Manhattan landmarks such as the Empire State Building or the Chrysler Building. Those skyscrapers are associated with New York’s architectural history, but the hotel connected specifically with O'Keeffe’s early city paintings was the Shelton Hotel.