Ghost Ranch gave Georgia O'Keeffe the dramatic cliffs and landscapes that became recurring subjects.
Ghost Ranch is a retreat and geological area near Abiquiú in northern New Mexico. O'Keeffe first visited the area in 1934 and began spending substantial time there, finding its colored cliffs, mesas, and expansive skies especially suited to her simplified compositions.
She painted the landscape repeatedly, including formations that became closely identified with her work. One well-known example is the feature she called “My Back Yard,” a viewpoint connected with the landscape around her home and working places.
Ghost Ranch and O'Keeffe's Abiquiú Home and Studio are related but not identical locations. She lived at the Abiquiú house, while Ghost Ranch was a distinct nearby setting that supplied many of the geological forms in her paintings.