check out this Insta account
After a decade spent researching Georgia O’Keeffe, I am always on the lookout for fresh ways to approach her work. There are so many worn-out narratives and tired cliches dogging her legacy that, when I find something inventive, I feel very grateful.
Recently I have been loving an Insta account called “To See Takes Time” – which quotes, of course, one of the core principles of O’Keeffe’s artistic practice. The two-and-half-year-old account has a singular, beautiful concept: to display an O’Keeffe art work side-by-side with the work of another woman artist, often lesser known or under-recognized. The dual compositions work on so many levels – sparking visual curiosity, provoking unexpected correspondences, and expanding the roster of recognized women artists.
“To See Takes Time” is the brainchild of Mònica Martínez Daudén, who lives in Barcelona, Spain. She made her connection with O’Keeffe as a young woman, when a friend visited the O’Keeffe Museum and, knowing her friend’s artistic interests, suggested that she take a look, too. A secondary school German teacher by profession, Daudén has always been passionate about art; she herself paints as a personal practice. She started collecting the image associations in a folder before publishing them online.
The project began with Georgia O’Keeffe, and gradually expanded. “I became interested in other women artists and discovered many who had been forgotten in art history,” she says. “I realised that, in many of their works, I could find connections and a legacy that Georgia O’Keeffe, perhaps without knowing it, had left in the work of other artists.”
Her goal with these compound images is to create a single composition that “is beautiful and balanced, both in terms of color and composition. I want to convey a sense of cohesion and, above all, invite the viewer to continue exploring and discovering more about both artists.”
Daudén’s process is organic. And, surprisingly, it doesn’t start with O’Keeffe. “It works the other way around: when I am browsing artists’ profiles or visiting an exhibition, if I see a work that immediately reminds me of a work by O’Keeffe, I take a photo or save the image and then create the composition with the two works.”
Years later, Daudén is still learning new things about the artist. “O’Keeffe’s work is still relevant in 2026. Intentionally or not, she has been a teacher and role model for so many other women artists, both through her work and through her life.”
In the end, Daudén is creating her own personal map of art history, one that’s more accurate and more fair. “I like the idea that these comparisons can serve a dual purpose: discovering new women artists and, at the same time, looking at Georgia O’Keeffe again from different perspectives, rather than only seeing her through the image of her famous flowers.”
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