Georgia O'Keeffe moved permanently to her Abiquiu home in 1949. She had acquired the adobe property four years earlier, in 1945, and spent time renovating it before making it her principal residence.
The Abiquiu house offered O'Keeffe a private working environment surrounded by the northern New Mexico landscape she had come to know through repeated visits. Its architecture, courtyard, door, and nearby scenery all became important parts of her creative life.
Before settling in Abiquiu, O'Keeffe had lived primarily in New York and spent summers at Lake George. She continued traveling, but New Mexico increasingly became the setting most closely associated with her mature work.
The date 1945 is the acquisition year, not the year she moved permanently. This distinction matters because the house required substantial work before it was ready for regular use as her home and studio.