Georgia O'Keeffe maintained a home in Abiquiú, New Mexico, near the Pedernal.
O'Keeffe first visited New Mexico in 1917 and returned regularly for decades. She was drawn to the region's arid landscapes, adobe architecture, cliffs, bones, and distinctive mountains. In 1945 she purchased and restored a ruined hacienda in Abiquiú, turning it into one of her principal homes.
The nearby Pedernal became a recurring subject in her work. O'Keeffe once described the flat-topped mountain as her private mountain, saying that if she painted it often enough, it would belong to her. Its recognizable form appears in numerous paintings.
Abiquiú is sometimes confused with Ghost Ranch, another New Mexico place strongly associated with O'Keeffe. Ghost Ranch was a separate retreat north of Abiquiú, while the Abiquiú house became her permanent base after she moved from New York in 1949.