Georgia O’Keeffe’s “Oriental Poppies,” painted in 1928, is an exemplary work of the Precisionism art movement. This oil on canvas artwork measures 30 x 40 1/8 inches and falls under the genre of flower painting. It is housed in the University of Minnesota Art Museum located in Minneapolis. The artwork captivates with its magnified portrayal of two poppy flowers.
The artwork showcases O’Keeffe’s fascination with the natural world, with an intense focus on the flowers’ form, color, and detail. The two central poppies dominate the canvas, rendered in vibrant tones of red and orange, with black centers that provide a striking contrast. O’Keeffe has abstracted the botanical subject to emphasize their shape and color, eschewing background detail to direct the viewer’s full attention to the lush petals and intricate structure of the poppies. Her use of fluid lines and sumptuous color gradients exemplifies her ability to transform a simple floral subject into a powerful and evocative composition.
