Georgia O'Keeffe repeatedly painted the Black Place, a dark geological formation in New Mexico.
The Black Place lies near Abiquiu and became one of O'Keeffe’s recurring subjects after she began visiting New Mexico in the 1920s. She described the formation as about 150 miles from her home, although the distance was part of her vivid personal account rather than a modern measurement.
Its dark ridges and eroded forms offered O'Keeffe a landscape unlike the Wisconsin countryside or New York architecture of her earlier work. Paintings of the site translate the terrain into sweeping bands, sharp contours, and near-abstract shapes.
The Black Place is often mixed up with the White Place, another New Mexico landscape O'Keeffe painted extensively. Ghost Ranch was also important to her, but it is a separate location and subject.