The New Mexico landmark known as the Black Place appears repeatedly in Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings.
The Black Place is a dark, volcanic landscape near Ghost Ranch in northern New Mexico. O'Keeffe painted it many times from different viewpoints, emphasizing its black ridges, pale road, and dramatic contrast with the surrounding desert. She described the location as a place she could see from her car while traveling near Ghost Ranch.
The site became one of the recurring geographic motifs of her New Mexico period. O'Keeffe often returned to particular natural forms rather than treating a landscape as a single finished subject.
The Black Place is easy to confuse with the White Place, another New Mexico landscape O'Keeffe painted. It is also distinct from Pedernal, the flat-topped mountain that appears in many of her works.