Georgia O'Keeffe first visited Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1929.
O'Keeffe traveled to New Mexico with her friend Rebecca Strand in the summer of 1929. She was captivated by the region's intense light, adobe architecture, mountains, churches, and animal bones, and the landscape became a lasting source of subjects.
Her first New Mexico trip began a pattern of spending part of each year away from New York. She initially stayed in northern New Mexico and later lived and worked in Abiquiu and Ghost Ranch. The state eventually became central to her identity as an artist.
Taos is another important New Mexico art center and is associated with O'Keeffe's early travels, but Santa Fe was the city she first visited on that 1929 trip. Her long-term home and studio were later at Abiquiu.