One of the most original painters America has ever produced, Georgia O'Keeffe's vivid visual vocabulary--sensuous flowers, bleached bones against red sky and earth--has had a profound and lasting influence on American art in this century. Renowned for her fierce independence, iron determination, and unique artistic vision, O'Keeffe's personal mystique is as intriguing and enduring as her bold, brilliant canvasses. Here is the first full account of her exceptional life: from her girlhood and early days as a controversial art teacher, to her discovery by the pioneering photographer of the New York avant-garde, Alfred Stieglitz, to her seclusion in the New Mexico desert, where she lived until her death. Here also is the story of a great romance--between the extraordinary painter and her much older mentor, lover, and husband, Alfred Stieglitz.