GEORGIA O’KEEFFE AT THE AGO

Uhlyarik says O’Keeffe “feels very familiar” to Canadians not only because of her own well-known works but also her influence on Canadian artists from Harris and Emily Carr to Pegi Nicol MacLeod and Marian Scott.

“Contemporary artists are still working with some of her imagery to this day,” said Uhlyarik.

The curator’s advice to exhibit visitors is just trust the artist.

“She is remarkable, she really is. You just have to kind of open yourself up to it and just say, ‘What am I looking at? How am I looking at it?’ Because really what she’s trying to do is to communicate herself directly to you through these images.”

The O’Keeffe exhibit runs at the AGO through July 30.

O’Keeffe’s legacy is also on view in New York and Australia.

An exhibit called “O’Keeffe, Preston, Cossington Smith: Making Modernism,” which shines a spotlight on O’Keeffe and Australian artists Margaret Preston and Grace Cossington Smith, is touring Australia.

In New York, the Brooklyn Museum is showing “Georgia O’Keeffe: Living Modern,” which focuses on O’Keeffe’s iconic wardrobe in conjunction with select paintings and photographs.

“I’d like to think that she would love the balance and harmony of being on two hemispheres at the same time,” said Uhlyarik.

Georgia O’Keeffe at the Art Gallery of Ontario opens with a towering portrait of the artist by Alfred Stieglitz, befitting her stature in the popular imagination.

Left: Georgia O’Keeffe’s “Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 1932” sold for $44.4 million US in 2014. Above: Portrait of Georgia O’Keeffe at home in New Mexico, shot by Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh.