Ghost Ranch became a major subject for Georgia O'Keeffe after her 1930 visit.
O'Keeffe first visited Ghost Ranch in northern New Mexico in 1930 and returned repeatedly. Its dramatic cliffs, mesas, and changing light supplied imagery for many of her paintings and became one of the defining landscapes of her mature work.
Ghost Ranch is near Abiquiú, another New Mexico place strongly connected with O'Keeffe. She eventually acquired a house in Abiquiú, while Ghost Ranch remained a separate landscape and retreat area. The two names are therefore related but not interchangeable.
O'Keeffe's paintings of the region did not function as literal topographic records in every case. She selected, simplified, and sometimes restructured natural forms. The landscape's distinctive geological shapes nevertheless remained recognizable sources for paintings that helped define popular ideas about her Southwestern period.