Georgia O'Keeffe

I hate flowers—I paint them because they’re cheaper than models and they don’t move.

When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else. Most people in the city rush around so, they have no time to look at a flower. I want them to see it whether they want to or not.

I always have a curious sort of feeling about some of my things—I hate to show them—I am perfectly inconsistent about it—I am afraid people won’t understand—and I hope they won’t—and am afraid they will.

One day seven years ago I found myself saying to myself—I can’t live where I want to—I can’t go where I want to go—I can’t do what I want to—I can’t even say what I want to … I decided I was a very stupid fool not to at least paint as I wanted to.