Ghost Ranch inspired Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings of red cliffs and vast skies.
O'Keeffe began visiting the area near Abiquiú in the late 1920s and later rented a house there for extended periods. The retreat's dramatic geological formations, including the cliffs known as the Pedernal and surrounding mesas, became recurring subjects in her paintings. She once described the Pedernal as her private mountain.
Ghost Ranch was not simply a scenic backdrop. O'Keeffe repeatedly returned to the same landforms, reducing them to strong shapes, bands of color, and simplified horizons. Her Ghost Ranch works are often associated with New Mexico's distinctive light and desert terrain. The site is also a retreat and education center operated by the Presbyterian Church, and it is separate from O'Keeffe's Abiquiú home.