Lake George inspired Georgia O'Keeffe's series of paintings made in the 1920s.
O'Keeffe spent substantial periods at Lake George, a large lake in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. She visited the area with Alfred Stieglitz and his family, and the landscape became a recurring source for paintings, drawings, and abstractions. Her Lake George works include views of hills, trees, clouds, leaves, and other natural forms.
The series shows that O'Keeffe's artistic subjects were not limited to either city scenes or the desert. She often transformed familiar objects and landscapes into simplified shapes, strong color fields, and rhythmic patterns. A leaf, hill, or cloud could become the starting point for a more abstract composition.
Lake George is sometimes confused with the Great Lakes, especially Lake Erie or Lake Ontario. It is a separate freshwater lake in northeastern New York, south of the Adirondack region's High Peaks. O'Keeffe's later association with New Mexico should not obscure the importance of Lake George in her earlier work.