Throughout O'Keeffe's work a sense of observation of the world is continually present. She repeatedly abstracts from nature and attempts to capture and convey her deeply felt emotional response to the scene before her. Her ever-present use of light in her paintings depicts her belief in the vitality of nature and its association with light. "I long ago came to the conclusion that even if I could put down accurately the thing that I saw and enjoyed, it would not give the observer the kind of feeling it gave me. I had to create an equivalent for what I felt about what I was looking at - not copy it."

In 1929 O'Keeffe spent her first summer in New Mexico which increasingly became her home. She became progressively more independent of Stieglitz during the 1930's and early 1940's. She went to the Southwest desert to think, paint, and restore herself. Following Stieglitz' death in 1946, O'Keeffe moved to New Mexico permanently in 1949.   . . .