Among the most famous twentieth-century American artists, O’Keeffe often painted abstract compositions in which she appears to have responded to forms in nature. Showcasing her sophisticated color sense and delicate brushwork, works such as Grey Line with Lavender and Yellow are devoid of traditional subject matter. Nevertheless, they easily conjure up associations with flower petals and human anatomy. Like many abstract artists, O’Keeffe aspired to render essential form by disregarding extraneous details.
This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Open Access
As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.
API
Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.
This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Artwork Details
Use your arrow keys to navigate the tabs below, and your tab key to choose an item
Title:Grey Line with Lavender and Yellow
Artist:Georgia O'Keeffe (American, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin 1887–1986 Santa Fe, New Mexico)
Date:ca. 1923
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:48 × 30 in. (121.9 × 76.2 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Alfred Stieglitz Collection, Bequest of Georgia O'Keeffe, 1986
Object Number:1987.377.1
Inscription: Initialed (on cardboard backing, in center of five-pointed star, in black crayon): OK
the artist (ca. 1923–d. 1986; her bequest as part of the Alfred Stieglitz Collection to MMA)
New York. An American Place. "Georgia O'Keeffe: 44 Selected Paintings (1915–1927)," January 29–March 17, 1934, possibly extended to March 27, 1934, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Georgia O'Keeffe: 1887–1986," November 19, 1988–February 5, 1989, not in catalogue (unnumbered checklist addenda).
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Georgia O'Keeffe: 1887–1986," March 30–June 18, 1989, not in catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "14 Americans," July 16, 1990–January 2, 1991, no catalogue.
Venice. Palazzo Grassi. "Biennale, 46 Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte. Identity and Alterity: Figures of the Body 1895–1995," June 11–October 15, 1995, no. VII.63.
Paris. Centre Pompidou. "Fémininmasculin, le sexe de l'art," October 24, 1995–February 12, 1996, unnumbered cat. (fig. 385).
Santa Fe. Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. "Georgia O'Keeffe and the Women of the Stieglitz Circle," September 21, 2007–January 13, 2008, unnumbered cat. (fig. 153).
Atlanta. High Museum of Art. "Georgia O'Keeffe and the Women of the Stieglitz Circle," February 9–May 4, 2008, unnumbered cat.
San Diego Museum of Art. "Georgia O'Keeffe and the Women of the Stieglitz Circle," May 24–September 28, 2008, unnumbered cat.
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Georgia O'Keeffe: Abstraction," September 17, 2009–January 17, 2010, unnumbered cat. (pl. 76).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Stieglitz and His Artists: Matisse to O'Keeffe," October 13, 2011–January 2, 2012, no. 180.
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Inventing Abstraction, 1910–1925," December 23, 2012–April 15, 2013, no. 182.
Lisa M. Messinger in "Twentieth Century Art." Recent Acquisitions: A Selection, 1987–1988. New York, 1988, p. 60, ill.
Lisa Mintz Messinger. Georgia O'Keeffe. New York, 1988, pp. 31–32, fig. 17.
Maria Costantino. Georgia O'Keeffe. New York, 1994, p. 158, ill.
Anne Middleton Wagner. Three Artists (Three Women): Modernism and the Art of Hesse, Krasner, and O'Keeffe. Berkeley, 1996, pp. 64, [66], fig. 15.
Barbara Buhler Lynes. Georgia O'Keeffe: Catalogue Raisonné. New Haven, Conn., 1999, vol. 1, p. 238, no. 442, ill; vol. 2, p. 1125, app. 3, fig. 56.
Barbara Buhler Lynes with Russell Bowman. O'Keeffe's O'Keeffes: The Artist's Collection. Exh. cat., Milwaukee Art Museum. New York, 2001, pp. 30, 63, 170, 172.
Lisa Mintz Messinger inStieglitz and His Artists: Matisse to O'Keeffe. The Alfred Stieglitz Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Lisa Mintz Messinger. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2011, pp. 14, 197, 278, no. 180, ill. (color).
Rachael Z. DeLue inInventing Abstraction, 1910–1925: How a Radical Idea Changed Modern Art. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 2012, p. 190, colorpl.182.
Richard Meyer. "Changing Partners: Richard Meyer on 'Reimagining Modernism' at the Met." Artforum 54 (November 2015), p. 144, ill. (color, installation photo).
Roberta Smith. "A Trans-Atlantic View of Modernism." New York Times (January 9, 2015), p. C30, ill. (installation photo).
Georgia O'Keeffe (American, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin 1887–1986 Santa Fe, New Mexico)
1937
Resources for Research
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Met's engagement with art from 1890 to today includes the acquisition and exhibition of works in a range of media, spanning movements in modernism to contemporary practices from across the globe.
