Georgia O'Keeffe spent most of her later life in New Mexico after moving there permanently in 1949.
O'Keeffe had visited New Mexico repeatedly from 1917 onward and began spending extended periods there in the 1930s. She was drawn to the region's stark geology, adobe architecture, desert plants, animal bones, and intense light. In 1949, three years after Alfred Stieglitz died, she moved to New Mexico permanently.
Her principal New Mexico homes were at Ghost Ranch and in Abiquiu. She used both the surrounding landscape and collected objects as subjects, producing paintings that became strongly associated with the American Southwest. New Mexico did not replace her earlier interests so much as give them a new setting and scale.
The state is sometimes confused with Texas or Arizona because O'Keeffe's Southwestern imagery is often discussed broadly. New Mexico is the specific state connected to her permanent relocation, her Abiquiu home, and the later phase of her career.