Georgia O'Keeffe repeatedly painted the Shelton Hotel in her New York cityscapes of the 1920s.
The Shelton Hotel, later known as the New Yorker Hotel, was a prominent skyscraper near Lexington Avenue and 49th Street. O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz lived there after moving from their earlier Manhattan residence, and the building gave her a dramatic elevated view of the city.
Her paintings of the Shelton emphasize geometric forms, vertical movement, and the changing patterns of light on modern architecture. Works such as Shelton with Sunspots, New York, 1926, turn a commercial skyscraper into an abstract composition.
The building is often confused with the Chrysler Building or Empire State Building because all three are associated with New York's skyscraper era. O'Keeffe's repeated Shelton paintings, however, are specifically connected to the hotel where she and Stieglitz lived.