''Blue'' is the name of four paintings that

Georgia O'Keeffe Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (November 15, 1887 – March 6, 1986) was an American modernist artist. She was known for her paintings of enlarged flowers, New York skyscrapers, and New Mexico landscapes. O'Keeffe has been called the "Mother of Ame ...

made in 1916. It was one of the sets of watercolors that she made exploring a monochromatic palette with designs that were non-representational of specific objects. The paintings were made on sheets of

Japanese tissue Japanese tissue is a thin, strong paper made from vegetable fibers. Japanese tissue may be made from one of three plants, the ''kōzo'' plant (''Broussonetia papyrifera'', paper mulberry tree), the mitsumata (''Edgeworthia chrysantha'') shrub ...

of the

gampi Gampi or Ganpi are a group of Japanese shrubs, members of the genus ''Wikstroemia'', some of which have been used for making paper since the 8th century. It is used to make the high quality washi paper, as are kōzo and mitsumata trees. Variou ...

tree. ''Blue No. 2'' was made in Virginia before O'Keeffe moved to Texas. One opinion is that through ''Blue No. II'', O'Keeffe expresses her personal experience with music. For instance, the shape is like the curves of the neck of the violin, which she was playing during the timeframe. She could also be suggesting emotion felt through music through the use of line and the intense blue color, perhaps influenced by

Wassily Kandinsky Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (; rus, Василий Васильевич Кандинский, Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kandinskiy, vɐˈsʲilʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ kɐnʲˈdʲinskʲɪj; – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter a ...

. Another viewpoint is that it is similar to the lines in charcoal drawing ''No. 8 Special'' made in 1916.

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Further reading