Famous Love Letters Throughout Art History
In homage to Valentine’s Day and the displays of love that surround this month, I’m sharing my favorite love letters throughout art history.
The act of writing one’s thoughts and feelings down on paper is a brave display of affection. A hand-written letters will always convey a sense of intimacy, and vulnerability…Although the form and content of love letters have changed throughout the years, the purpose remains the same: to communicate genuine emotion and seek connection. I hope you that you find personal meaning and inspiration through the artists words.
Georgia O’Keefe & Alfred Stieglitz
Famous photographer Alfred Stieglitz, and Modern American artist, Georgia O'Keefe, shared an intimate and long-lasting love affair. In June 1918, O'Keeffe accepted Stieglitz's invitation to move to New York after promising to provide her with a quiet studio to paint. Within that month, he took the first nude portraits of O'Keefe while his wife was away. Stieglitz's wife returned home once while their session was still in progress. She had suspected something was going on between the two for many months prior and threatened to leave him if he did not stop seeing O'Keefe. Stieglitz left home immediately and found a place in the city where he and O'Keeffe could live together. Both were creatives in their own right, and as time went on, O'Keefe became the muse for many of Stieglitz's acclaimed works. No different than most modern relationships, O'Keefe and Stieglitz experienced ups and downs as each fulfilled their personal and professional achievements. Nevertheless, they remained together until Stieglitz died in 1946, exchanging over 5,000 letters throughout their 28 years together. My Faraway One: Selected Letters of Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz features over 650 letters love letters, thoughtfully selected by renowned photography scholar, Sarah Greenough.
Stieglitz to Okeefe:
“How much we have in common- Traits- Both turn everything we touch into something really living- and amusing- for ourselves. Both can laugh- really laugh- even at our heartaches- 300 years you want to live?! I wish I could give you that as a gift.”
Frida Kahlo & Diego Rivera
Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera are one of art history's most notorious couples. A turbulent relationship, yet still filled with passion and love. Two years after a severe bus accident, in 1927, Kahlo met Rivera, whose work she'd come to admire. Despite the vocal disapproval of Kahlo's mother, the two artists quickly fell in love and were wed on August 21st, 1929. Both had multiple affairs- the most notable being Kahlo's relationship with French singer Josephine Baker. Although they had many setbacks, the bond between Kahlo and Rivera was one of immense love and dedication. Kahlo's letters to Rivera, found in The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait, stretch across the twenty-seven-year span of their relationship and speak to the profound connection that the two shared.
Kahlo to Rivera:
“Diego, my love,
Remember that once you finish the fresco we will be together forever once and for all, without arguments or anything, only to love one another. Behave yourself and do everything that Emmy Lou tells you.
I adore you more than ever. Your girl, Frida. (Write me)”
Rockwell Kent & Frances Lee Kent
Rockwell Kent was an American painter, illustrator, writer, and voyager of the early 1900s. He is best known for his signature, smooth style of landscape paintings. Kent pursued many careers throughout his long life, eventually finding success by exhibiting and selling his paintings in New York. In 1907, he was given his first solo exhibit at Claussen Galleries. The following year he married his first wife, Kathleen Whiting, with whom he had five children. The couple divorced in 1924, and Kent married Frances Lee the following year. Although little is known about the artist’s personal life, a letter to Lee written in 1926 was later found and has now became one of the most famous love-letters in romantic writing.
Rockwell Kent to wife Frances Lee Kent:
“Frances! I am so lonely I can hardly bear it. As one needs happiness, so have I needed love; that is the deepest need of the human spirit. And as I love you utterly, so have you now become the whole world of my spirit. It is beside and beyond anything that you can ever do for me; it lies in what you are, dear love- to me so infinitely lovely that to be near you, to see you, hear you, is now the only happiness, the only life, I know. How long these hours are alone!
Yet it’s good for me to know the measure of my love and need, that I may at least be brought to so govern myself as never to lose the love and trust that you have given me.
Dear Frances, let us make and keep our love more beautiful than any love has ever been before. Forever, dearest one.
Thy, Rockwell”
Johnny Cash & June Carter
Both well-known performers, Johnny Cash and June Carter met backstage at the Grand Ole Opry after an Elvis concert in 1956. A long while after meeting the couple married in 1968, and remained married until Carter’s death in 2003. Throughout their famed relationship the duo wrote and performed many songs together. June inspired and cowrote the iconic song “Ring of Fire”, based on a sentiment she expressed about falling in love with Johnny Cash.
