Georgia O'Keeffe made many paintings in New Mexico after first visiting the state in 1917. Its stark deserts, mountains, adobe buildings, bones, and open skies became central subjects in her art. She returned repeatedly and eventually made New Mexico her permanent home.
O'Keeffe first visited New Mexico while traveling with her friend and fellow artist Rebecca Salsbury James. The region offered a visual language very different from the city environments and northeastern landscapes she had previously painted. She developed a close personal connection to the state’s terrain and architecture.
O'Keeffe is strongly associated with New Mexico, but she was not born there and did not move there permanently immediately after her first visit. She lived and worked in New York for many years. Her New Mexico subjects include the Cerro Pedernal, the Taos region, desert bones, and adobe structures around Abiquiú and Ghost Ranch.