Georgia O’Keeffe Museum Releases Comprehensive Digital Catalogue Raisonné

The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico, has launched “Access O’Keeffe,” a free online platform allowing users to browse over 2,000 works by the renowned artist. This includes paintings, handwritten letters, and early sketches. Spearheaded by Georgia O’Keeffe scholar Barbara Buhler Lynes, who published the artist’s definitive catalogue raisonné in 1999, this digital archive is part of a long-standing effort to make O’Keeffe’s works more accessible. The tool lets users sort works by color, medium, and theme, aiming to reach a diverse audience of educators, artists, and scholars.

The concept for the digital archive emerged a decade ago, and its development was led by Liz Neely, the museum’s Curator of Digital Experience. Despite funding challenges, including a loss of federal support under President Trump, the project was completed with restored funding after a legal battle. “Access O’Keeffe” has been compared to other digitized catalogs, such as “Van Gogh Worldwide,” and promises to facilitate new discoveries in O’Keeffe studies.

Lynes, who first encountered O’Keeffe’s art in 1987 and has devoted decades to her scholarship, expressed enthusiasm for the platform’s potential to revolutionize access and research, bringing her work into the digital era.