Georgia O'Keeffe Page #4

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- The formula for the perfect marriage.

- Quite right, quite right.

Love nurtures a marriage,

whether it is from within or without.

You and Mr. Norman are quite right.

Stay married. Do not divorce.

And nurture the beast with love...

whenever and wherever you can find it.

- Pass?

- Pass.

My father ran Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.

I grew up with every kind of rude

and ill-mannered cowboy and Indian...

...and I can safely say.

...your husband's behavior

is worse than any of them.

- You're right.

- So, say something to him. Pick a fight.

He wouldn't have the faintest idea

what I was talking about.

He doesn't know what he's doing

or what's happening to him.

- Well, then he's an idiot.

- Yes, he is.

And I love him...

...even when I can't stand the sight of him

or the thought of him with another woman.

- What are you gonna do about Mrs. Norman?

- I may just have to shoot her.

She adores him,

and that's what he really wants.

Someone who lives only for him...

...a little seed that he can plant

and nurture and care for and...

Is that what you were to him?

Yes, I was a little plant

that he watered and weeded.

...and dug around until he lost interest in me

because I grew out of his shadow.

- It's so dark. Where are we?

- Go back to sleep. We're almost there.

- You're sure Mabel won't mind?

- She insisted I bring you.

She knows what you've been going through.

- I'll be fine.

- Of course you will.

- I hurt so much.

- I know. Here.

You'll love it in Taos.

It's like being on the moon.

I'm gonna get you out of these wet things

and into bed, Georgia.

I know. I know it hurts, Georgia.

Hello.

I don't know why I'm speaking Spanish

to you. You're not Spanish, are you?

But I don't know any Indian language.

English? Do you speak English?

Yes, Ms. O'Keeffe. I do speak English.

Poquito espaol, couple of Hopi dialects,

and my French is pretty good.

What are you doing way out here

without your shoes?

I don't know.

I just woke up, wandered out, got lost.

Come on.

I'll give you a lift back.

Mabel will be worried.

Good God, I thought we'd lost you already.

You should be in bed, resting, recuperating.

I'm fine, Mabel.

I'm fine thanks to your friend.

He's not a friend, Georgia.

He's a husband, Tony Luhan.

That makes me Mabel Evans Dodge Stern

Luhan. That's four, isn't it?

Congratulations. The collection is growing.

Oh, my dear,

one can't be this far out into the wilderness.

without a little pokey-poke every now

and then. Good for the skin...

...and the disposition.

Now, I want you back in bed.

I want you good and rested. We're having

guests tonight. Dinner and dancing.

- I don't feel like dancing, Mabel.

- Oh, my dear. Dancing is a euphemism.

What does the dance mean?

It means that you're one with nature.

With the earth and sky, and the bricks,

and the river.

And the beasts in the field.

Not better or worse, not different,

not separate...

...but all the same.

See, in the dancing, Ms. O'Keeffe, it means...

It means that you are the earth and sky.

Yes.

I'd really like to learn how to drive.

Do you think you could teach me?

Yes, Ms. O'Keeffe. Of course.

Thank you, Mr. Luhan.

Dear Ms. O'Keeffe,

I'm planning a small group show in the fall...

...and I sincerely hope that you will honor me

with more of your flower paintings.

I have denigrated them in the past...

...but clearly I was out of step with what

the buyers are buying.

We could sell 100 of them were you to find

the time and the inclination.

The show cannot go on without you,

and I'm afraid I myself cannot, either.

The thought of you

so many miles away from me.

...makes me sadder than you would imagine.

I am terribly eager to make a fresh go of it.

As ever, your most humble husband,

Mr. Stieglitz.

- What's that mountain out there?

- They call it the Pedernal.

- We call it...

- It looks small.

It's not.

- Well, get closer. Can you get closer?

- Yeah.

- This is one crazy woman.

- Yes.

- It must be 120 degrees.

- Want some water?

God, no.

- How about some tequila?

- Now you're talking.

- You all right?

- Yes.

Another... Another letter from Stieglitz.

Filled with remorse, I imagine.

- Put it with the rest of them.

- Must be dozens.

- I'll read them later.

- Good girl.

Let go of New York. Let go of everything.

That's the only way.

No ties that bind. No... No binds at all.

It's been almost a year since I wore a girdle.

- You're drunk.

- No, no. It's true. It's true.

- It's good to see you like this.

- Like what?

Happy, relaxed.

I love it here. Heaven help me.

I'm glad I'm here.

Well, yeah. You want to play like that?

If you want to play like that,

then I want to play, too.

Oh, no! Oh, no.

All right. Forward. I'll get it this time.

That was easy.

- You want to know the truth?

- I sure do.

I've never felt at home in the East.

- What about Stieglitz?

- I don't know.

I can't leave him

without cutting half my heart away...

...but I know I belong here.

My head's filling up with pictures

just waiting to jump onto the canvas.

I mean, I just... I look.

...at the hills and the sky and I just...

I think half your work's done for you,

isn't it?

I told Tony to order us our own car.

It's a Model T, and it costs $670...

...but it has removable seats and a high roof,

and I can paint right inside.

I'd imagine I could get a canvas,

I don't know, 30 by 40 inches in the back.

It'd keep me out of the heat and the cold,

don't you think?

She's not read them? She's not read them?

"I haven't had time to read them. "

What in God's name is she thinking?

I must have written her 100 letters!

Listen to this, "I found the most wonderful

hills driving through the Navajo country. "

She's driving! Georgia's driving

a car into savage territories.

Go to bed, Alfred.

With nobody but some Indian

and good-for-nothing Becca Strand.

I know her father consorted

with Wild Bill Hickok.

Buffalo Bill, Alfred.

Not Wild Bill, Buffalo Bill.

"Mabel's house is full of

the most wonderful assortment of people. "

Wonderful, wonderful!

Everything's wonderful!

"Last week Jean Toomer arrived,

another woman in tow...

"looking as handsome as ever. "

Here we are. "In the heat of the afternoon...

"we all lie out naked under the sun

and bake. "

What, she has Jean Toomer out there?

I mean, they're all lying naked under the sun,

under the stars.

You don't have to tell me what's going on.

I can read it.

I can read between the lines.

"Jean Toomer is steeped in

the philosophies of Gurdjieff.

"and has been showing me

the most curious exercises. "

I bet he has.

"He has been demonstrating something

called the fourth way of... "

She's a married woman, for God's sake!

She has a home! She has a husband!

She's abandoned all civilized behavior?

Yes, it's very wrong of her.

Now come to bed.

When she's not cavorting with the natives...

...she's snuggling up to

the black prince of Harlem.

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