Why Georgia O'Keeffe Remains the Benchmark in American Modernism

Georgia O'Keeffe is remembered by a title few American artists have earned outright: "Mother of American modernism." It is the kind of designation that collectors, museums, and auction houses treat as a fixed point rather than a debate, a shorthand for where American modern art begins. For a market and a country still weighing what counts as essential in twentieth-century American painting, her name continues to serve as the reference.

With reporting from Galerie.