Georgia O'Keeffe painted in Colorado in 1917

Georgia O'Keeffe taken in Canyon, Texas shortly before her summer trip to Colorado in 1917, Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, Gift of The Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation

Georgia O'Keeffe, Church bell, Ward, Colorado, 1917

Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, Gift of the Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation

O'Keeffe traveled by train over the famous Switzerland Trail of Colorado to the high mountain town of Ward, where she painted watercolors of the lakes and mountains. She also painted several watercolors of the Historic Ward Church.  Only her oil painting of the church, Church bell, Ward, Colorado survived.  It was in her personal estate when she died.

Historic Ward Church, Ward, Colorado, 2012

Georgia O'Keeffe in Estes Park, CO, 1917, Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

While in the Ward area, O'Keeffe spent time painting and "tramping".  When she left Ward, she walked to Estes Park, then down to Loveland, Colorado where she caught the train back to Denver, then on to her first short visit to Santa Fe, and finally back to Canyon, Texas where she taught at Texas Normal College.

Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe at Gallery 291, 1917, Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz corresponded throughout her trip to Colorado.  He had shown her work in a one-person exhibition at his Gallery 291 in New York in the Spring of 1917.  

Alfred Stieglitz, Fifth photograph of Georgia O'Keeffe Exhibition, Gallery 291, 1917, Todd Webb Print, Benecke Library, Yale

After her return to Texas, Stieglitz offered O'Keeffe a stipend to return to New York and paint for a year.

Georgia O'Keeffe returned to New York in 1918, she and Stieglitz fell in love, and were married in 1924.

Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe, 1918, The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

The years 1917 and 1918 were pivotal years for O'Keeffe, both as an artist and in her personal life.