Georgia O'Keeffe first visited New Mexico in 1929.
She traveled to the state during the summer of 1929 and was struck by its light, architecture, vegetation, bones, and expansive landscapes. The visit began a lasting relationship with New Mexico that transformed the subjects and visual vocabulary of her work.
O'Keeffe returned repeatedly during the following decades. She spent time at Ghost Ranch and later acquired and restored a house in Abiquiú. New Mexico eventually became more than a travel subject: it became the place where she lived and worked for much of her later life.
The year is sometimes confused with 1949, when O'Keeffe moved permanently to New Mexico after Alfred Stieglitz’s death. Those are different milestones. Her first visit was in 1929; her permanent move came twenty years later.