Georgia O'Keeffe made many paintings of desert bones and flowers in New Mexico.
O'Keeffe first visited New Mexico in 1917 and returned repeatedly during the 1920s. She moved there permanently after Alfred Stieglitz died in 1946, eventually dividing her time between Abiquiú and New York before settling in the Southwest. The region's stark landscapes, adobe buildings, arroyos, bones, and flowers became central subjects.
Her New Mexico paintings include enlarged flowers, desert landscapes, and objects such as animal skulls. She often collected bones during walks and carried them home as studio subjects. These works are sometimes described as purely symbolic, but O'Keeffe repeatedly emphasized her direct visual response to the landscape.
Arizona, Colorado, and Utah also contain deserts and dramatic scenery, but New Mexico is the state most specifically associated with O'Keeffe's mature artistic identity.