Georgia O’Keeffe’s 1939 Hawaiian Pineapple Company commission included a pineapple as its subject.
The company, now associated with the Dole brand, invited O’Keeffe to Hawaii in 1939 to create images for an advertising campaign. She spent about nine weeks there and painted plants, flowers, and landscapes observed on the islands.
The company wanted a pineapple image, but O’Keeffe did not receive one until late in her stay. After the company supplied a pineapple, she painted it in New York, completing the requested subject for the campaign. Her Hawaiian paintings ultimately included more than the commercial commission alone.
This episode is often simplified as though O’Keeffe painted only tropical flowers for advertising. In fact, the trip produced a substantial body of work and exposed her to Hawaiian environments that differed sharply from the deserts of New Mexico.