The Museum of Modern Art’s Post

Happy birthday to artist Georgia O’Keeffe, who would have turned 138 years old today! 🎂 As a child, O’Keeffe decided she was going to be an artist when she grew up. Although she was unsure of what kind of art she would make, she later recalled, “I hadn’t a desire to make anything like the pictures I had seen.” In a November 1916 letter, O’Keeffe described watching an early morning train approach through the Texas landscape. “A train was coming way off—just a light with a trail of smoke—white—I walked toward it—The sun and the train got to me at the same time—It’s great to see that terrifically alive black thing coming at you in the big frosty stillness—and such wonderful smoke.” In charcoal, O’Keeffe conveyed the smoke by lifting away the sooty medium in plume-like swipes. In watercolor, she left blank paper to stand for the white trail, surrounding it with color that suggests the sunrise. — 🚂 Georgia O'Keeffe. “Train at Night in the Desert.” 1916. Acquired with matching funds from the Committee on Drawings and the National Endowment for the Arts. © 2025 Georgia O'Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York