Georgia O’Keeffe Museum Announces Final Exhibition and Gallery Installation Ahead of New Campus Opening

Spaces of Becoming and Georgia O’Keeffe & Sam Scott Open November 21, 2026 at 217 Johnson Street

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE–September 21, 2026–(Santa Fe, NM)–This fall, the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum presents a new exhibition and installation, marking the culminating changeover to its current galleries on Johnson Street before the opening of the New O’Keeffe campus in 2028. Spaces of Becoming, an exhibition exploring O’Keeffe’s evolving living space, opens November 21, 2026, alongside Georgia O’Keeffe & Sam Scott, a unique installation showcasing 99 watercolors by contemporary painter Sam Scott in dialogue with work by O’Keeffe.

“Since its inception in 1997, the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum has grown significantly in both its collections and its storytelling. This milestone marks our transition into the future while celebrating the building that has welcomed millions of visitors from around the world,” says Micaela Hester, Chief of Staff and Deputy Director of the Museum.

The final exhibition at the Museum galleries on Johnson Street invites visitors to embrace Georgia O’Keeffe’s philosophy of “taking the time to look.” Spaces of Becoming explores how O’Keeffe’s home informed her artistic practice. Bringing together O’Keeffe’s personal belongings, including rocks, dishware, and books, with renowned artworks such as My Last Door, 1952–1954, and Pelvis IV, 1944, Spaces of Becoming encourages visitors to consider the connections between O’Keeffe’s everyday surroundings and her art.

“O’Keeffe’s home was not static, but rather a living and evolving space, which O’Keeffe continuously shaped over the decades,” said Assistant Curator Yaritza Martinez Pule. “Moving through the exhibition, visitors will gain a better understanding of O’Keeffe’s everyday life, and how her home and the objects within it shaped her creative practice.” Together, the objects and paintings in Spaces of Becoming invite visitors to contemplate how O’Keeffe’s home inspired her art.

In addition to this new exhibition, signature paintings by O’Keeffe, including Blue – A, 1959 and The Beyond, 1972, will return to the Museum’s galleries alongside a new installation of 99 watercolors by painter Sam Scott.

Georgia O’Keeffe & Sam Scott features 99 watercolors on paper gifted by Scott to the O’Keeffe Museum in 2023. Scott’s paintings, which the painter describes as “very fierce and very tender,” draw inspiration from the high-desert landscapes of New Mexico that also captivated O’Keeffe. Nine abstract paintings by O’Keeffe will be displayed in conversation with Scott’s watercolors. Georgia O’Keeffe & Sam Scott continues the Museum’s tradition of placing contemporary artists in dialogue with O’Keeffe’s work.

“This moment marks an exciting chapter for the Museum, as we prepare for the opening of the New O’Keeffe,” said Dr. Laura Wertheim Joseph, Director of Curatorial Affairs. “Spaces of Becoming and Georgia O’Keeffe & Sam Scott are the final major installations in our current galleries before the opening of our new campus.”

The New O’Keeffe will more than double the Museum’s current gallery square footage in historic downtown Santa Fe when it opens in 2028. The Museum’s current galleries on Johnson Street will remain as part of the O’Keeffe campus throughout and after construction of the new Museum.

For more information on the exhibition, related programming, and Museum admission visit gokm.org

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About Sam Scott:

Sam Scott has lived and worked in Santa Fe since 1969. Drawing upon his training with Abstract Expressionists Clyfford Still, Philip Guston, and Grace Hartigan, Scott developed his own poetic language of abstraction in dialogue with the landscape of New Mexico, which has inspired his work for more than five decades.

In 1994, Scott received the Mayor’s Award for Excellence in the Visual Arts from the City of Santa Fe, New Mexico. In 1995, he was invited to address the United Nations, where he was awarded the Peace Rose by Sri Chinmoy of the United Nations Peace Meditation Group. In 1997, Scott was given a 30-year retrospective at the New Mexico Fine Arts Museum, entitled Sam Scott: An American Voice Paintings 1967–1997. In 1999, Scott was one of three artists chosen by the State Department to represent the United States at its first postwar cultural exchange with the Republic of Vietnam. In 2002, Scott was among the first American painters invited to exhibit at La Maison Française Museum of Contemporary Art at the Embassy of France in Washington, D.C.​ Scott is also one of five artists chosen to represent the Capital Art Collection as a “State Treasure” in the New Mexico State Capitol in Santa Fe.​ In 2017, the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum presented Journey to Center, an exhibition featuring twenty watercolor studies of light and color by Scott. In 2026, Scott received the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts.

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For media inquiries, contact:

Debra Heslin | Head of Marketing & Communications
505-946-1037
dheslin@gokm.org

About the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum: Since 1997, the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum celebrates the art, life, and independent spirit of Georgia O’Keeffe. Located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where Georgia O’Keeffe lived the final decades of her life, the O’Keeffe has sites and experiences in two historic destinations, Santa Fe and Abiquiú. For more information, please visit gokm.org