Georgia O'Keeffe visited Hawaii in 1939 for a Dole pineapple advertising commission.
The Hawaiian Pineapple Company, associated with the Dole brand, invited O'Keeffe to create images connected with pineapple production and Hawaiian scenery. She traveled to Hawaii in 1939 and spent about nine weeks making paintings of plants, flowers, and landscapes.
The trip produced works such as Pineapple Bud and Heliconia, but the commission did not simply turn her into a commercial illustrator. O'Keeffe's paintings retained her characteristic attention to close-up forms and strong composition. She also painted subjects unrelated to the specific pineapple assignment.
This episode is sometimes overlooked because her New Mexico work is more famous. Hawaii was nevertheless a significant travel and subject change in the late 1930s, before she deepened her long-term connection with the American Southwest.