Georgia's Hawaii

"It took Georgia O’Keeffe nine days to travel the 5,000 miles between New York’s Grand Central Station and the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Although she was heralded by local newspapers upon her arrival as the “famous painter of flowers,” the impetus for her trip was a different sort of plant life.

O’Keeffe was in Hawaii to paint a pineapple.

At least, that was what Dole (then known as the “Hawaiian Pineapple Company”) hoped she would do. It had approached O’Keeffe in 1938, proposing an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii—after which time the painter would deliver the company two canvases for use in a national advertising campaign. O’Keeffe was to determine the subject of these works herself, a degree of artistic freedom that likely encouraged her to accept Dole’s invitation despite an initial ambivalence."

Read the full Abigail Cain article via Artsy that divulges the details of this artist's little known Hawaiian adventure. Also if you live on the East Coast, consider heading to the New York Botanical Garden to see Georgia O’Keeffe: Visions of Hawai‘i exhibition.