Georgia O'Keeffe made her famous desert paintings in New Mexico.
O'Keeffe first visited New Mexico in 1917 and returned repeatedly during the 1920s and 1930s. Its cliffs, bones, adobe buildings, churches, and broad skies became recurring subjects. She found the region visually powerful and later described it as a place that felt like home.
She began spending most of each year in New Mexico after Alfred Stieglitz died in 1946. In 1949 she moved there permanently, living first at Ghost Ranch and later in Abiquiú. The state became inseparable from her public image, although her career also included flowers, cityscapes, and abstract compositions.
New Mexico is sometimes confused with Arizona because both states contain major desert regions. O'Keeffe's best-known Southwestern locations, however, were in northern New Mexico.