Ghost Ranch gave Georgia O'Keeffe many subjects for paintings of cliffs and desert landscapes.
Ghost Ranch is a retreat and landscape area near Abiquiú in northern New Mexico. O'Keeffe first visited the region in 1934 and later maintained a home there. The dramatic cliffs, mesas, changing light, and sparse vegetation became recurring elements in her work.
Among the landscapes associated with the ranch is a formation known as Pedernal. O'Keeffe painted the mountain repeatedly from different viewpoints and in different conditions. She famously described the mountain as something she could paint because it was “my private mountain,” a phrase often used to explain her strong attachment to the place.
Ghost Ranch is not the same as O'Keeffe's Abiquiú home and studio. Both locations were important to her New Mexico life, but Ghost Ranch is particularly associated with the expansive cliffs and desert views that appear in her paintings.