The brightness of light

My first memory is of the brightness of light—light all around. I was sitting among pillows on a quilt on the ground—very large white pillows. The quilt was a cotton patchwork of two different kinds of material. I was probably eight or nine months old. This was all new to me—the brightness of light and pillows and a quilt and ground out beyond.

My mother sat on a bench beside a long table, her back turned to me . A friend called Aunt Winnie stood at the end of the table in profile. Years later I told my mother that I could remember something that I saw before I could walk. She laughed and said it was impossible.

So I described that scene—even to the details of the material of Aunt Winnie's dress. She was much surprised and finally—a bit unwillingly—acknowledged that I must be right, particularly because she, too, remembered Winnie's dress.

[This is the opening recollection in O'Keeffe's 1976 autobiography.]

Posted By: Georgia O'Keeffe
Artist, New Mexico