Ghost Ranch became a major subject for Georgia O'Keeffe after her first visit in 1929.
O'Keeffe first visited the area in northern New Mexico in 1929 and returned repeatedly. Its dramatic cliffs, arroyos, and expansive skies supplied the visual material for many of her best-known Southwestern paintings.
She lived and worked in New Mexico for extended periods, eventually maintaining a house and studio in Abiquiú. Ghost Ranch was not her only New Mexican subject: she also painted the Black Place, the Pedernal, churches, ranch buildings, bones, and desert plants.
Ghost Ranch is sometimes confused with Abiquiú because both places are closely connected to O'Keeffe's life and work. They are distinct locations. The Ghost Ranch landscape lies north of Abiquiú, while her Abiquiú home became her principal permanent base later in life.