If you’ve ever stood in front of a six-foot-tall canvas of a poppy and felt like you were falling into it, you get why people are still obsessed. Georgia O’Keeffe didn’t just paint flowers. She basically rewired how we look at the natural world. Right now, seeing Georgia O’Keeffe on view is a bit of a treasure hunt because her work is scattered across the globe, from the dusty mesas of New Mexico to the sleek galleries of London.
People often think they know O’Keeffe. They think of the "flower lady." But honestly? That’s such a narrow slice of what she actually did. She was a pioneer of abstraction long before it was "cool" in the New York scene, and her 2026 exhibition schedule proves she’s more relevant than ever.
Where You’ll Find Her Right Now
If you’re looking to catch her work in person this year, you’ve got options. It just depends on whether you want the "classic" desert vibe or something a bit more experimental.
The Santa Fe Mothership
The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe is the obvious first stop. They’re running an exhibition through September 7, 2026, called Tewa Nangeh/Tewa Country. It’s a pretty big deal because it reframes her relationship with New Mexico. For decades, the narrative was that she "discovered" this landscape. This show acknowledges that she was actually a guest on Tewa land. It mixes her paintings with contemporary works by Indigenous artists from the six Tewa Pueblos. It’s a necessary, complicated look at her legacy.
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Also in Santa Fe, there’s A Circle that Nothing Can Break, which runs through March 1, 2026. This one focuses on the shapes—circles and spirals—that she used to channel emotional symbolism. It's less about the "what" and more about the "why."
London and the UK Tour
Across the pond, the Southbank Centre’s Hayward Gallery is touring a show called Memories of Drawings. It’s at the Gerald Moore Gallery in Eltham through mid-February 2026. If you think her color work is good, you need to see her charcoals. They are moody, dark, and incredibly sophisticated. This tour is scheduled to hit several UK spots throughout 2026, including the Beverley Art Gallery starting in late March.
The Permanent Heavy Hitters
Sometimes you don't need a special event. You just need the icons.
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- The Art Institute of Chicago: This is where you find Sky Above Clouds IV. It’s massive. It’s 24 feet wide. Seeing it in person makes you feel like you're actually floating in an airplane.
- The Whitney (NYC): They usually have Summer Days (the deer skull with the wildflowers) or It Was Blue and Green on display.
- Anchorage Museum: Through a partnership with the National Gallery of Art, Winter Road I is on view in Alaska through Spring 2027.
The 2026 Digital Revolution: Access O’Keeffe
Wait. There's a major shift happening right now that doesn't require a plane ticket. Early 2026 marks the launch of Access O’Keeffe.
It’s a digital catalogue raisonné. That sounds boring and academic, but it’s actually a game-changer. It’s a living database of every known work she ever did. The museum in Santa Fe spent years building this. You can search by color, medium, or even "shape."
One of the coolest things they found while building this? They realized some of her paintings have been hanging the wrong way for 50 years. For example, On the River Ica (1965) was always listed as a horizontal landscape. But researchers found mounting hardware that proves O’Keeffe actually meant for it to hang vertically.
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It changes the whole energy of the piece.
Why Seeing Her Work Matters in 2026
We live in a world of 5-second TikToks and AI-generated "art." O’Keeffe is the antidote to that. She was a master of the "slow look."
She famously said, "Nobody sees a flower—really—it is so small it takes time." She painted them big so people would be forced to actually look. That's a radical act today. When you see Georgia O’Keeffe on view, you’re not just looking at a pretty picture. You’re looking at a woman who decided to live exactly how she wanted, in a place that most people found inhospitable, doing work that people tried to pigeonhole for a century.
Actionable Ways to Experience Her Work:
- Check the "On View" lists: Before you visit any major US museum (MOMA, Met, Art Institute), check their "Current Installations" page. O’Keeffe’s work is often cycled in and out of permanent galleries.
- Visit Abiquiú: If you can get to New Mexico, book a tour of her Home and Studio. The Artful Living exhibition at the Welcome Center is open through late January 2026 and shows the objects she actually lived with—Eames chairs mixed with hand-found stones.
- Use the Digital Catalogue: When Access O'Keeffe fully launches, use it to track down where specific pieces are currently on loan. It’s the most accurate way to find "hidden" works in smaller regional museums.
- Look for the Charcoals: Everyone wants the flowers. Seek out the early abstractions from 1915. That’s where you see her real genius—her ability to make a piece of paper vibrate with just black and white.
Don't just scroll past her on Instagram. If there’s an O’Keeffe within a two-hour drive of you, go. Stand there. Give it ten minutes. You’ll see exactly what she wanted you to see.