Ghost Ranch became Georgia O'Keeffe's best-known New Mexico source of inspiration.
O'Keeffe first visited New Mexico in 1929 and returned regularly for many years. She was drawn to the region's cliffs, mesas, arroyos, bones, and intense light, which offered a dramatic contrast to New York City and Lake George.
Ghost Ranch is a landscape and retreat area near Abiquiú in northern New Mexico. O'Keeffe began spending summers there in the 1930s and eventually made New Mexico her permanent home. She painted distinctive formations such as Cerro Pedernal, a flat-topped mountain that appears repeatedly in her work.
Ghost Ranch is sometimes confused with the nearby village of Abiquiú, where O'Keeffe later lived, or with the broader state of New Mexico. The places are connected but not identical. Her New Mexico paintings transformed local geological forms into monumental, simplified compositions that became hallmarks of her style.