Retrospective Anticipation: Georgia O’Keeffe’s Efforts at Controlling Her Legacy

American painter Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986) experienced not only the rise of her oeuvre, but also its fall and reappraisal. In the 1970s and 1980s, O’Keeffe became increasingly active in safekeeping her legacy, becoming involved in several definitive publications of her art and that of her late husband, supporter, and promoter, Alfred Stieglitz (1864–1946). In these decades, she was also attempting to realize both a personal museum in Santa Fe and the opening to the public of her house and studio in Abiquiu, New Mexico. This chapter explores what made O’Keeffe so intent on safeguarding her legacy, and how she looked back on her career and creative output once she reached very old age. As an artist’s widow, she was aware what it meant to deal with an artistic estate, and she knew that a good catalogue raisonné or published correspondence would be a valuable tool to ensure future research into both their oeuvres, as was a museum devoted to the art of their circle. Another important motivation was to correct unwanted gendered interpretations of her art. The definitive projects demonstrate how she safeguarded her and Stieglitz’s estate for posterity.