Georgia O'Keeffe died in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1986.
O'Keeffe died on March 6, 1986, at the age of 98. She had spent much of her later life in New Mexico, a region whose stark landscapes, adobe buildings, animal bones, and changing light became central to her art and public identity.
Although she was born in Wisconsin and spent important years in New York, Virginia, Texas, and South Carolina, New Mexico became her chosen home. She first visited the state in 1929 and moved there permanently in 1949. In her final years, failing eyesight limited her ability to paint, but she continued to work with assistants and explored other artistic forms.
O'Keeffe’s death came decades after her first New York exhibitions and after she had become a major figure in American modernism. Her legacy continued through the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, which opened in Santa Fe in 1997.