MOVIE OF THE WEEK June 5, 2026: GEORGIA O’KEEFFE: THE BRIGHTNESS OF LIGHT

American visual artists don’t get much more iconic than Georgia O’Keeffe, the pioneering modern abstract painter whose iconic images have adorned walls everywhere from prestigious museums to college dorm rooms. In his thorough documentary Georgia O’Keeffe: The Brightness of Light, director Paul Wagner tells her fascinating, nearly century-long life story, following her and her evolving art from the plains of the Midwest to the New Mexico high desert and everywhere in between.

O’Keeffe, who was born in 1887, knew from a young age that she wanted to be an artist, and she never strayed too far from pursuing that path, both as a student and as a teacher. But it wasn’t until she took a class from Alon Bement in the summer of 1912 that she really discovered the interest in abstract art that would become her defining passion. And it wasn’t until she moved to New York City in 1918 and began her long personal and professional relationship with art dealer/photographer Alfred Stieglitz that she began to become a known entity in the art world.

Wagner blends vintage still images and video footage of O’Keeffe and her life (including some delightfully spirited clips of the artist herself speaking) with illuminating interviews from art experts and historians who know O’Keeffe and her work backward and forward. The evolution of her style across the decades is clearly explained, with her paintings making frequent appearances. Placing those works into the context of O’Keeffe’s life events, influences, and locations (she moved a lot!) makes them even more compelling.

O’Keeffe’s long relationship with Stieglitz is explored and discussed at length, including their shared passion for art and his passion for photographing nude portraits of her. The fact that their romance, as rocky as it sometimes was, is at the heart of the film makes it feel particularly appropriate that the film’s narration is provided by long-married actors Claire Danes (who gives voice to O’Keeffe’s own words, as excerpted from letters and other writings) and Hugh Dancy. All of the film’s aspects come together to — fittingly — create a picture of O’Keeffe that’s captivating, open to interpretation, and more complex than it initially might seem. — Betsy Bozdech

Team #MOTW’s comments:

Sandie Angulo Chen: Georgia O’Keeffe: The Brightness of Light is a riveting documentary that chronicles the pioneering artist’s life, narrated by Hugh Dancy and with Claire Danes as O’Keeffe. While the film, directed by Paul Wagner, follows the artist from birth through her death at age 98, it focuses on the complicated and long-lasting romantic and artistic partnership between O’Keeffe and photographer and gallerist Alfred Stieglitz, who was nearly 24 years her senior. Using a mix of archival footage and interviews with art historians, museum curators, biographers, and former employees, the movie delves into O’Keeffe’s artistic growth. The documentary explores what’s already known (her love of nature, particularly flowers, bones, and Southwest landscapes) and what might be news to audiences — like the fact that despite her transformation into a feminist American icon, O’Keeffe had no interest in connecting with younger female artists. A worthwhile documentary that’s accessible to all audiences, not just O’Keeffe devotees.

Loren King Georgia O’Keeffe: the Brightness of Light is a traditional biography of the transcendent artist. As one commentator notes, O’Keeffe became more famous for her life and singular character than for her art. But in this engaging overview of her life, her magnificent art is not given short shrift. By tracing O’Keeffe’s journey from a young, gifted painter in Wisconsin, then Virginia, to Texas where she taught art school, to New York City where she was part of the modernist movement to the desert in New Mexico, the film makes a compelling case for O’Keeffe as a startling visionary who belongs among the upper echelon of abstract artists. It’s telling and revealing that most of the film’s commentators —scholars and writers — are women who place O’Keeffe in the context of her time and the art world making her individuality, convictions and artistic vision even more remarkable.

Jennifer Merin Georgia O’Keeffe: The Brightness of Light is a thoroughly illuminating and inspiring documentary about the fiercely independent woman who set the international art world on fire with her insistently feminist point of view in her paintings and her life. Using archival photographs, footage and stills of O’Keeffe’s work, with Claire Danes voicing O’Keeffe and Hugh Dancy providing narration, the well researched documetary chronicles O’Keeffe’s story from her childhood to her senior years, following her wanderings to marvelous landscapes across the U.S. and around the world, visiting her various residences and studios and telling of her legenday romantic relationships. Georgia O’Keeffe is absolutely iconic and this biodoc/tribute film does her justice.

Leslie Combemale Whether you’ve never heard of Georgia O’Keeffe, lived with a poster of one of her flowers as your first piece of art, or, as in the case with a friend of mine, had a family that bought one of her originals in the 40s and proudly displayed it in their multi-generational house, you’ll learn something from this new film. That’s true not only because Wagner delves into the reasons and season of O’Keeffe’s time in Charlottesville and how it influenced the rest of her artistic life, but also because he leverages thousands of letters between O’Keeffe and Stieglitz only released in 2006. They reveal many of the events and emotional experiences that shaped O’Keeffe’s art and life. Read full review