NEW YORK, May 14 — Georgia O’Keeffe’s 1939 trip to the Hawaiian Islands inspired a series of paintings that will go on show as part of a landmark exhibition at the New York Botanical Garden.

The painter was 51 when she travelled to Hawaii on a commission to produce images for a Hawaiian Pineapple Company promotional campaign, having already achieved fame for her depictions of the landscape and flora of New Mexico.

Over nine weeks on Oahu, Maui, Kauai and the Big Island, she was inspired to create depictions of mountains and waterfalls, in addition to her signature, up-close views of plants and flowers.

The show will feature 20 of O’Keeffe’s depictions of Hawaii, including more than 15 that have not been seen together since their 1940 debut. Among them are Heliconia, Crab’s Claw Ginger and Pineapple Bud, both used in the Hawaiian Pineapple Company’s advertisements; and Hibiscus with Plumeria, on loan from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

A series of landscape paintings on loan from the Honolulu Museum of Art depicts Maui’s interior and lava-dotted shorelines.

Visitors will also have the chance to view a lush flower show in the Garden’s Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, evoking the gardens and landscapes that inspired O’Keeffe. Borders of tropical garden plants will feature frangipani, bougainvillea, heliconia, hibiscus, bird-of-paradise and ginger, while a thatched-roof pavilion will take inspiration from the traditional Hawaiian hale.

"Georgia O’Keeffe: Visions of Hawai’i” will be in view from May 19 through October 28. — AFP-Relaxnews