Upcoming Exhibition

Georgia O’Keeffe & Sam Scott

Get Tickets Browse the Collection

November 21, 2026 - April 15, 2028

Santa Fe, NM

Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

Georgia O’Keeffe & Sam Scott features 99 watercolors on paper by contemporary painter Sam Scott, presented in dialogue with work by Georgia O’Keeffe. Gifted to the O’Keeffe Museum in 2023, Scott’s watercolors draw inspiration from the high-desert landscapes of New Mexico that also captivated O’Keeffe. Nine abstract works by O’Keeffe, selected collaboratively by Scott and Museum curators, are displayed alongside Scott’s watercolors, creating a conversation across time and medium between the two artists. Georgia O’Keeffe & Sam Scott continues the Museum’s tradition of placing contemporary artists in dialogue with O’Keeffe’s work.

The lower third of this piece is covered by a broad band of black. The upper portion of the canvas is filled with several variations of blue; however, a thin stripe of white bisects the blues horizontally.

Horizontal watercolor of a deep blue rounded hill shape, echoed in pink directly above. The blue covers most of the paper, bleeding down to lighter hues towards the bottom. The pink is only a strip of color along the top, with the background filled by a pale blue wash.

**O’Keeffe works include: The Beyond, 1972 (left) and Pink and Blue Mountain, 1916 (right)**

—

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.

Artworks:

Sam Scott. Winter into Spring Series, 2023. Watercolor and mixed media on various papers. Gift of Sam Scott in Honor of the Children of New Mexico.

From left to Right: Sam Scott. Winter into Spring: Storm Light Clearing, Santa Fe, Early March 2023; Sam Scott. Winter into Spring: The Oaks, February 2023; Winter into Spring: Zero are One, Early January 2023; Sam Scott. Winter into Spring: The Beautiful Day, Pilar, May 4, 2023; Sam Scott. April into May: Watercolors Santa Fe/ Pilar, From Winter into Spring, Desert Landscape, May 11, 2023; Sam Scott. April into May: Watercolors Santa Fe/ Pilar, From Winter into Spring, The Beautiful Day, Early March 2023.

Georgia O’Keeffe. The Beyond, 1972. Oil on canvas, 30 1/16 x 40 3/16 inches. Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Gift of The Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation. © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. [2006.5.460] and (right) Georgia O’Keeffe

Pink and Blue Mountain, 1916. Watercolor on paper, 8 13/16 x 11 15/16 inches. Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Gift of The Burnett Foundation and The Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation. © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. [1997.4.15]