Hawaii inspired Georgia O'Keeffe's 1939 painting series commissioned by the Hawaiian Pineapple Company.
The company invited O'Keeffe to Hawaii to create images for an advertising campaign. She spent about nine weeks there in 1939, visiting islands and painting tropical plants, flowers, landscapes, and other subjects. The commission eventually included imagery related to pineapple, although the trip produced a much broader body of work.
O'Keeffe's Hawaiian paintings were not simply repetitions of her New Mexico style. They introduced lush vegetation, dramatic coastal scenery, and tropical forms into her visual vocabulary. The commission also showed how an established modern artist could work within a commercial context while retaining a distinctive approach.
The Hawaiian Pineapple Company later became part of the Dole Food Company. Hawaii is the correct location, not California, even though California was a major center for American agriculture and commercial art.