Ghost Ranch became Georgia O'Keeffe's home and a recurring subject in New Mexico.
O'Keeffe first visited New Mexico in 1917 and returned regularly, attracted by its dramatic light, cliffs, bones, and wide-open terrain. She began spending summers at Ghost Ranch in the 1930s, and the landscape became one of the defining settings of her art.
Ghost Ranch is a retreat and education center near Abiquiú in northern New Mexico. Its red and yellow cliffs, including the formation known as Cerro Pedernal in the surrounding region, appear in many works associated with O'Keeffe's Southwestern period.
O'Keeffe eventually bought a house in nearby Abiquiú, which became another important base. Ghost Ranch and Abiquiú are sometimes treated as interchangeable, but they are distinct places: Ghost Ranch was her summer setting, while the Abiquiú house became her permanent New Mexico home.