O'Keeffe was fascinated by arums (like Diego Rivera who repeatedly painted waxy-white calla lilies). She painted a series of six entitled Jack-in-the-pulpit, each growing increasingly abstract as she zoomed into the centre of the flower. Such dramatic close-ups were also well suited to another sexy flower, the orchid, which is adapted more flamboyantly than most species to waylay pollinating insects, for which purpose it sports protuberances and patterns that also intrigue humans. O'Keeffe chose Brassavola hybrids, and Gary Hume painted slipper orchids, but the trend had begun earlier with the travels of Marianne North, a Victorian lady painter, who set her dramatically enlarged comet orchids among tropical vegetation and butterflies; and with Martin Johnson Heade who journeyed to Central America for inspiration and painted cattleyas looming from jungle landscapes amid humming birds.
