🌸 Wideness and Wonder : Art History, Georgia O’Keefe

Through Georgia O’Keeffe’s Eyes: The Wonder of Nature in Every Petal

When most people think of Georgia O’Keeffe, they picture bold, oversized flowers, rendered in stunning color and haunting stillness. But behind those iconic paintings was an artist with a deep sense of wonder—someone who saw the natural world with reverence and curiosity, and who longed to help others see it too.

O’Keeffe wasn’t painting flowers just to showcase their beauty. She was inviting us to pause, look, and truly see.

A Moment of Wonder: Seeing the Flower

Georgia O’Keeffe once famously said,

“Nobody sees a flower—really—it is so small it takes time… and to see takes time.”

Her idea (*to see takes time*) defined her work. For her, a single blossom held as much mystery and importance as a mountain range. While others passed flowers by without a second glance, she leaned in closer, letting each curve and vein pull her deeper into the experience.

This moment of stillness—of wonder—became the heart of her vision.

“I’ll Paint It Big So You Can’t Ignore It”

O’Keeffe understood something special about human perception: if you’re not intentional, then its so easy to overlook the quiet beauty of the world. To counter this, she began painting flowers on a grand scale, their delicate forms stretched across canvases in sweeping, magnified detail.

“I’ll paint it big,” she once said, “so people will be startled and take time to look at it.”

And it worked.

Her flowers weren’t scientific diagrams. They were emotional landscapes. A single petal might curve like a desert canyon. A stamen might pulse with hidden energy. By zooming in, she turned the ordinary into something sacred and alive.

The Power of Perspective

What set O’Keeffe apart wasn’t just her technique—it was her way of seeing.

Where a botanist might dissect a flower for study, O’Keeffe allowed herself to feel it. She painted not just what a flower looked like, but how it felt to encounter it. The softness, the tension, the unfolding mystery.

She once wrote,

“When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for the moment.”

That’s the power of focus. That moment the intense focus on one small thing… transformed her work into a meditation on presence and perception.

Inviting Us to See Differently

In painting flowers the way she did, O’Keeffe wasn’t just sharing what she saw she was teaching us to see differently.

Her art gently challenges us: What else in our lives do we overlook? What beauty is hiding in plain sight, waiting for us to slow down?

Flowers, for O’Keeffe, were metaphors for life, for femininity, for resilience. Their fleeting nature made them even more worthy of attention. Her canvases became invitations: Come closer. Stay longer. Don’t miss this.

Nature as Sanctuary

Later in life, O’Keeffe moved to the vast, sun-washed landscapes of New Mexico. There, her sense of wonder expanded beyond flowers. She painted bleached animal bones, distant mesas, clouds drifting across endless skies.

Even in these sparse subjects, her deep connection to nature remained. She saw the soul of things—the curve of a bone, the slope of a hill—and captured them with the same awe she once gave to petals.

Nature, for O’Keeffe, was not background noise. It was everything.

Legacy: Slowing Down in a Fast World

O’Keeffe’s message is perhaps more relevant today than ever.

In a culture of constant motion, she reminds us to pause. To notice. To let a flower, a cloud, or a shadow stop us in our tracks.

We can honor her legacy by taking time to see the world with fresh eyes. Try walking without a phone. Sit beside a tree and sketch its outline. Watch a bee disappear into a bloom. Let yourself wonder at the ordinary.

You don’t need to be a painter. You just need to look.

Conclusion: Wonder, Still Blooming

Georgia O’Keeffe didn’t ask us to admire her flowers. She asked us to see them.

And in doing so, she gave us a gift: a way of reconnecting with wonder. Georgia captured (through focus and intentionality) one petal, one breath, one moment at a time.

So the next time you pass a flower, remember her invitation. Stop. Look. Really see.

Because wonder, O’Keeffe taught us, is always there. Just waiting.