Georgia O'Keeffe moved permanently to New Mexico in 1949 after first visiting in 1929.
O'Keeffe first visited New Mexico in the summer of 1929, traveling with the writer Rebecca Strand, wife of photographer Paul Strand. She was captivated by the region's desert landscapes, adobe buildings, bones, and intense light. New Mexico soon became a recurring setting for her painting and an important source of independence from the New York art world.
For many years she divided her time between New York and New Mexico. After Alfred Stieglitz died in 1946, O'Keeffe moved permanently to New Mexico in 1949. She lived and worked at Ghost Ranch and later at her restored house in Abiquiú, while maintaining a strong connection to her New York gallery career.
The dates are easy to mix up: 1929 marks her first visit, while 1949 marks the permanent move. Her move was therefore not an immediate result of the first trip but the outcome of two decades of repeated visits and growing attachment.