Georgia O'Keeffe: "To create one's own world takes courage"

"I wish people were all trees and I think I could enjoy them then".

"Vorrei che le persone fossero tutte alberi e penso che potrei godermele allora".

"To create one's own world takes courage".

"Per creare il proprio mondo occorre coraggio".

"Long ago I came to the conclusion that even if I could put down accurately the thing I saw and enjoyed, it would not give the observer the kind of feeling it gave me. I had to create an equivalent for what I felt what I was looking at - not copy it".

"Molto tempo fa sono giunta alla conclusione che anche se potessi scrivere accuratamente la cosa che ho visto e apprezzato, non avrebbe dato all'osservatore il tipo di sensazione che ha dato a me. Ho dovuto creare un equivalente per quello che sentivo quello che stavo guardando, non copiarlo".

"Whether the flower or the color is the focus I do not know. I do know the flower is painted large to convey my experience with the flower - and what is my experience if it is not the color?"

"I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life and I’ve never let it keep me from a single thing that I wanted to do".

"Nothing is less real than realism. Details are confusing. It is only by selection, by elimination, by emphasis, that we get at the real meaning of things".

"Niente è meno reale del realismo. I dettagli sono confusi. È solo attraverso la selezione, l'eliminazione, l'enfasi che arriviamo al vero significato delle cose".

"Nobody sees a flower - really - it is so small it takes time - we haven't time - and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time".

"Nessuno vede un fiore - davvero - è così piccolo che ci vuole tempo - non abbiamo tempo - e vedere ci vuole tempo, come avere un amico ci vuole tempo.

"The abstraction is often the most definite form for the intangible thing in myself that I can only clarify in paint. … I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for".

"L'astrazione è spesso la forma più definita per la cosa intangibile in me stesso che posso chiarire solo nella pittura. … ho scoperto che potevo dire cose con colori e forme che non potevo dire in nessun altro modo - cose per le quali non avevo parole".

"If you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for a moment".

"Se prendi un fiore in mano e lo guardi davvero, per un momento è il tuo mondo".

"I'm frightened all the time. But I never let it stop me. Never!"

"Ho sempre paura. Ma non ho mai lasciato che mi fermasse. Mai!"

"It's not enough to be nice in life. You've got to have nerve".

"Non basta essere gentili nella vita. Devi avere coraggio".

"Two walls of my room in the Abiquiú house are glass and from one window I see the road toward Espanola, Santa Fe, and the world. The road fascinates me with its ups and downs and finally its wide sweep as it speeds toward the wall of my hilltop to go past me. I had made two or three snaps of it with a camera. For one of them I turned the camera at a sharp angle to get all the road. It was accidental that I made the road seem to stand up in the air, but it amused me, and I began drawing and painting it as a new shape. The trees and mesa beside it were unimportant for that painting - it was just the road".

"I had to create an equivalent for what I felt about what I was looking at - not copy it".

"My painting is what I have to give back to the world for what the world gives to me".

"I know now that most people are so closely concerned with themselves that they are not aware of their own individuality. I can see myself, and it has helped me to say what I want to say - in paint".

"I’m not a joiner and I’m not a precisionist or anything else".

"It never occurs to me that (skulls) have anything to do with death. They are very lively. I have enjoyed them very much in relation to the sky".

"I said to myself, 'I have things in my head that are not like what anyone has taught me - shapes and ideas near to me - so natural to my way of being and thinking that it hasn’t occurred to me to put them down'. I decided to start anew to strip away what I had been taught".

"Ho detto a me stessa, 'Io ho nella mia testa cose che non somigliano a quelle che mi sono state insegnate - forme ed idee così vicine a me - così naturalmente conformi al mio modo di essere e di pensare che non mi è mai capitato di mettere su tela'. Ho deciso di iniziare da capo, di cancellare quello che mi è stato insegnato".

"What I see outside my bedroom window in winter is really wonderful... I like my life".

"…in a way - nobody sees a flower - really - it is so small - we haven’t time - and to see takes time like to have a friend takes time".

"È sorprendendente per me vedere quante persone separano l'oggettivo dall'astratto. La pittura oggettiva non è una buona pittura se non è buona nel senso astratto. Una collina o un albero non possono rappresentare un buon dipinto solo perché sono una collina o un albero. Sono linee e colori combinati per dire qualcosa. Questo è mer me il fondamento stesso della pittura. L'astrazione è spesso la forma più definita per la cosa intangibile in me che posso solo rendere chiara nella pittura."

"It is surprising to me to see how many people separate the objective from the abstract. Objective painting is not good painting unless it is good in the abstract sense. A hill or tree cannot make a good painting just because it is a hill or a tree. It is lines and colours put together so that they say something. For me that is the very basis of painting. The abstraction is often the most definite form for the intangible thing in myself that I can only clarify in paint."