Ghost Ranch inspired Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings of dramatic red cliffs.
Ghost Ranch is a retreat and education center near Abiquiu in northern New Mexico. O'Keeffe first visited the area in the 1930s and found its cliffs, mesas, and broad desert spaces particularly compelling.
She painted the surrounding landscape many times, often simplifying it into strong bands of color and monumental shapes. The area’s distinctive geological formations helped define the visual vocabulary of her New Mexico paintings.
Ghost Ranch and the Abiquiu Home are related but different places. O'Keeffe used both, and the landscape around Ghost Ranch supplied subjects for works sometimes identified by names such as “The Cliff,” “Black Place,” and “Red Hills.”