Georgia O'Keeffe's "To See Takes Time" at the Museum of Modern Art

     Georgia O’Keeffe’s “To See Takes Time” at the Museum of Modern Art is a survey of one of the most famous woman artist’s drawings and watercolor paintings. O’Keeffe, who is widely known for her oil paintings, also has a vast collection of works on paper in the mediums of charcoal, pencil, watercolor and pastel. The years of 1915 to 1918 was a major period of exploration for the artist, and many of the works on show come from this time. Throughout the artist’s career, these pieces have been separated from each other and are now coming together under one show. By looking at these pieces, the viewer gets insights into the painter’s mind and method of working. Many pieces displayed look like preliminary sketches, but are so rich in information of O’Keeffe’s active decision making. A greater understanding of the artist’s color choices are displayed in her simple watercolors of the sunset or her master composition decisions in her abstracted charcoal drawings.  
In the show, the pieces are roughly displayed by category, a series of watercolor figures are shown together and then representational charcoal drawings of flowers are shown opposite. To see these works in conjunction with the title “To See Takes Time” the viewer is invited to be leisurely with the work. The title is almost an affirmation telling the viewer that it is okay, and encouraged, to look at the work slowly– to truly take it in. Tt can also be seen as O’Keeffe explaining the work, justifying the large amounts of studies and preliminary drawings. She is saying “This is what needs to be done in order to get to the end result. It takes time”.