This fall the Chrysler Museum of Art celebrates the genius of one of America’s pioneering modern artists. Georgia O’Keeffe: A Place of Her Own tells the story of this trailblazing painter’s long and brilliant career through 10 key works spanning six decades. The exhibition will be on view in the Museum’s Roberts Wing of American and European Art (G. 222) from October 21, 2015 through January 3, 2016. Admission is free.

Born in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, in 1887, O’Keeffe rose to prominence soon after her first solo exhibition in 1917 at the art gallery of influential critic and photographer Alfred Stieglitz, whom she later married. A deep appreciation for nature guided much of her work, as seen in her large and colorful paintings of everyday objects like flowers, bones, and seashells. With this unique style, O’Keeffe became one of America’s leading female artists, and since her death in 1986, her reputation has continued to grow.

“Everyone admires Georgia O’Keeffe,” Chrysler Museum Director Erik Neil says. “These are such brave and unforgettable pictures. We’re very proud to be sharing them with our visitors.”

At the center of the exhibition are four paintings from O’Keeffe’s Jack-in-the-Pulpit series from 1930. These canvases explore the shapes and colors of a single wildflower blossom, moving closer and becoming progressively more abstract in each. Bold and experimental flower paintings established O’Keeffe’s reputation within the New York avant-garde art scene of the 1920s, and the Jack-in-the-Pulpit series marks the climax of that phase of her career.

Although these flower paintings brought O’Keeffe critical acclaim, she objected to suggestions that they were symbols of her femininity, and she painted many other subjects. As visitors to this exhibition will see, she found inspiration in the towering modern architecture of New York City and in the open sky and dunes of the New Mexico desert. Perhaps O’Keeffe’s most striking masterwork is the Chrysler’s vibrant painting Black Door with Red from 1954, one of many studies the artist made of a single wall and door on the patio of the adobe home near Taos, New Mexico, where she spent the final decades of her life.

“Each of these pictures shows a place or an object that was very special to O’Keeffe,” says Alex Mann, Brock Curator of American Art, who organized the exhibition. Using the artist’s own words—published comments and private letters—the accompanying wall texts introduce these works with a combination of historical information and the artist’s personal and often poetic voice.

“I hope this show will be a space of meditation,” Mann says. “We’ve filled the gallery—every wall.  How often can you experience an entire room of Georgia O’Keeffe? This is special.”

Georgia O’Keeffe: A Place of Her Own is the final exhibition of Collection Conversations. The series pairs modernist masterworks from the Chrysler Collection and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. In addition to seminal works from both museums, visitors also will see several rarely exhibited pieces on loan from private collections in Coastal Virginia. A nearby gallery displays related works: a playful Tony Vaccaro photograph of the artist and other artworks influenced by her style.

For more information on the Chrysler Museum of Art, visit chrysler.org.