Ghost Ranch became one of Georgia O'Keeffe's major sources of inspiration.
Ghost Ranch is a dramatic area in northern New Mexico, near Abiquiú, known for multicolored cliffs, mesas, and expansive desert views. O'Keeffe began visiting the area in the 1930s and repeatedly painted its geological formations. The landscape gave her a visual vocabulary of red earth, pale bones, sharp horizons, and monumental rock shapes.
She rented and later owned a house at Ghost Ranch, using it as a summer residence. Works associated with the area include paintings of the cliffs and the large, isolated forms of the surrounding terrain. O'Keeffe often transformed observed places rather than copying them as literal topographic views.
Ghost Ranch and Abiquiú are neighboring but distinct references in O'Keeffe's biography. Ghost Ranch was especially associated with summer work and landscape exploration; Abiquiú became her principal home and studio. Both locations helped define her image as an artist of the American Southwest.