Hawaii inspired Georgia O'Keeffe's 1939 Hawaiian paintings.
The Hawaiian Pineapple Company, later part of the Dole Food Company, invited O'Keeffe to Hawaii in 1939. The commission was intended to produce images for advertising, but the trip gave her a chance to paint tropical plants, flowers, shorelines, waterfalls, and volcanic landscapes.
O'Keeffe spent about nine weeks in Hawaii, visiting several islands. She produced paintings and drawings of subjects such as papaya trees, heliconia, ginger, and waterfalls. Although she was asked to paint a pineapple, she initially found the plant less compelling than other subjects; a pineapple was eventually sent to her New York studio, where she painted it.
The trip is sometimes described as a general vacation, but it began as a commercial art commission. Hawaii was then a U.S. territory; it became the 50th U.S. state in 1959. O'Keeffe's Hawaiian works are an important but less familiar part of her career.