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He had been there before and absolutely loved it. So in 1932, Georgia followed his advice and took a three-day trip by car to Quebec. Since it’s “chicks over d*cks” (or maybe “gals over pals” in the '30s?) she didn't take lover Alfred Stieglitz with her, but brought his niece instead. Georgia described the area as “a grand place to paint” and sketched dozens of barns and crosses. The landscape reminded her of her childhood home in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.
In a letter to her beau, Georgia wrote: “We went into the Laurentian Hills, northwest of Montreal. As perfect a kind of landscape as I ever saw, perfectly kept to, very lovely. Then toward Quebec till I got drawings of barns I had in mind. Two rather grand crosses, so different from the New Mexico crosses, sharp and white with obvious hearts on them.
Fun Fact: that’s not the only letter she wrote. Between 1915 and 1946 these two lovebirds exchanged over 25,000 pieces of paper! Sometimes they would even write multiple letters a day.
Later that summer the two gals would take a longer, three-week trip to the area. Apparently the Gaspé Peninsula is littered with white barns. During this trip Georgia would paint about seven them, one of them was White Canadian Barn II.
As I said, the landscape reminded her of her childhood. The white Canadian barns weren't her first barn paintings. Alfred and Georgia would visit his family farm basically every summer and she painted the barns on the property. She converted one of those barns into a studio. Not only to paint, but also to escape the never ending stream of visitors her in-laws would welcome every summer. During her three-week trip, Alfred was somehow alone at the family barn with Rebecca Strand (the wife of the guy who convinced Georgia to take the trip). He took a series of nudes of her and the two began a short affair. Georgia somehow knew this happened (women's intuition), but she didn't see Rebecca as a serious threat to their relationship. Maybe she didn’t care because six years later she and ‘Bcca would have their own affair...
This barn looks like a strong infrastructure and looks very pretty. The dark-colored wooden doors give it a retro and elegant look, in a way.
White Canadian Barn II
I was surprised to find that the artist behind this painting was Georgia O'Keeffe; for some reason, I always associated her name with paintings of abstract, pastel flowers. This painting shows the broadness of her painting ability and technique. It feels much more plain for its' lack of value and texture, and yet still feels holistically complete.