Which 1939 Hawaiian company invited Georgia O'Keeffe to create paintings of plants?

The story behind the answer

The Hawaiian Pineapple Company invited Georgia O'Keeffe to create plant paintings in 1939.

The company, now associated with the Dole brand, commissioned O'Keeffe to produce images for an advertising campaign. She traveled to Hawaii in 1939 and spent about nine weeks visiting islands and observing tropical plants and landscapes.

O'Keeffe painted subjects including pineapple and other vegetation, but the commission did not turn her into a conventional commercial illustrator. Her paintings retained the simplified forms, close viewpoints, and strong color relationships characteristic of her independent work.

The trip is an important but sometimes overlooked episode in her career. It took place before her long-term settlement in New Mexico and showed that her visual curiosity extended beyond the American Southwest.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Oct. 2026

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