Georgia O'Keeffe made her New Mexico home in Abiquiú after leaving New York.
O'Keeffe first visited New Mexico in 1929 and returned repeatedly for extended periods. The landscape, architecture, animal bones, and dramatic geological formations became central subjects in her art. In 1949, three years after Alfred Stieglitz died, she moved permanently from New York to New Mexico.
She eventually acquired and restored a historic adobe house in Abiquiú. The property had a distinctive black door opening onto a courtyard, a motif she painted repeatedly. Her Abiquiú home is often confused with Ghost Ranch, another New Mexico location that was important to her. Ghost Ranch was a separate retreat and source of imagery, while Abiquiú became her principal home.
O'Keeffe spent her later decades working in the region and died in Santa Fe in 1986. The Georgia O'Keeffe Home and Studio in Abiquiú is now preserved as a historic site connected with her working life.