Georgia O'Keeffe first visited New Mexico in 1917, beginning her long artistic relationship with the state.
She traveled there while teaching in Texas and spent time in Santa Fe and nearby areas. The region's mountains, desert, adobe buildings, bones, and intense light became lasting subjects in her work. She returned repeatedly and eventually made New Mexico her principal home after moving there permanently in 1949.
New Mexico did not replace her earlier interests overnight. O'Keeffe continued to paint flowers, New York architecture, and other subjects, but the Southwest gave her a distinctive landscape vocabulary that became central to her reputation.
The state is sometimes confused with Arizona because both are associated with desert scenery. O'Keeffe's best-known Southwestern setting, however, was New Mexico, especially the area around Abiquiú and Ghost Ranch.