Georgia O'Keeffe: Lake George Autumn and Church Steeple

Introduction: O'Keeffe's Enduring Legacy

Georgia O'Keeffe's artwork has always been of great interest to journalists, critics, and scholars. But her many paintings and drawings — from New Mexico, New York City, and Lake George in the Adirondacks — are her truly lasting treasures, not what people say about them. O'Keeffe's work has stirred the emotions and spirits of millions of people who know little or nothing about art, and the exquisiteness, originality, and timeless beauty of her paintings will endure for as long as there are people to see them.

"Where I was born and where and how I have lived is unimportant," she stated (Peters, 2001, 18). "It is what I have done with where I have been that should be of interest."

Lake George Autumn: Medium and Subject Matter

"Lake George Autumn" is one of those works that invites interest. It is a two-dimensional painting, oil on canvas — fine art, not applied art. It was meant as a visual experience to be enjoyed and to inspire; it was not designed to provide color or decoration to any utilitarian object such as a coffee cup or plate. This is a public work that O'Keeffe intended to be shared by the public. Although she was a very private person, and many of her works remain unavailable for public viewing to this day, this was a public piece.

It was completed in 1925 in the Adirondacks. It is an abstract view of Lake George, near the home of her husband, the renowned photographer Alfred Stieglitz. O'Keeffe concentrated on the natural world in the vast majority of her paintings and drawings — from the starkness of the New Mexico desert to the bold, bright colors of flowers to the Adirondacks. She loved to bring the natural world onto her canvas.

Lake George Autumn: Composition and Content

The content of the painting is an abstract view of Lake George, New York, during the season of autumn. The browns and yellows — in various shades of both colors — mixed with some greens, reflect the seasonal change of color in the upstate New York area. The lake appears in several shades of blue, dark blue, gray, and black. This scene is probably one that O'Keeffe could walk to quite easily from Stieglitz's property; perhaps it was on his property. She enjoyed the years spent with Stieglitz in New York State, but it is well known that she preferred her life in New Mexico.

The visual flow of "Lake George Autumn" moves to the right. The lake probably has wind blowing its surface in that direction, and there appears to be a natural flow of both the water and the color rightward. The trees guide the eye in the same direction. There is an island on the left side of the lake, and the trees on that parcel of land are dark green, suggesting a different species from those on the shore.

The contrasts — O'Keeffe did much of her work in contrasting colors — are most pronounced on the right side of the painting. The dark shadows of the hills against the blue sky suggest that a cloud may be blocking the sun from that area, or that there has been a recent burn. The lake contrasting against golden trees creates a stunning visual explosion for the eye.

The cloud above the distant Adirondacks is long and white, with some undulation, running parallel to the mountain horizon. A swatch of blue sky appears at the very top of the painting. No overt sociopolitical content is apparent in this work, though there are certainly sociopolitical aspects to O'Keeffe's life and art, which are addressed below.