Which artist taught Georgia O'Keeffe the influential ideas about composition that changed her style?

Arthur Wesley Dow taught Georgia O'Keeffe influential ideas about composition.

O'Keeffe encountered Dow's principles while studying at the University of Virginia and through related teaching associated with his approach. Dow emphasized arranging line, color, and tone to create a unified composition rather than simply copying the visible world.

These ideas helped O'Keeffe move beyond the academic realism that had dominated her early training. She began making abstract drawings in charcoal in 1915, exploring expressive lines and forms that did not depend on recognizable subjects. Those drawings eventually came to Alfred Stieglitz's attention.

William Merritt Chase was another important teacher in O'Keeffe's education, especially at the Art Students League, but he was not the source of the compositional theory most often credited with changing her artistic direction. Dow's influence was especially important to her move toward abstraction.