Ghost Ranch inspired many Georgia O'Keeffe paintings of cliffs and landscapes.
Ghost Ranch is a dramatic retreat in northern New Mexico, near Abiquiú. O'Keeffe first visited the area in the late 1930s and later maintained a house there. Its multicolored cliffs, dry terrain, and expansive skies became recurring subjects in her paintings and drawings.
She often isolated recognizable landforms and presented them with simplified shapes and powerful color relationships. Works associated with the area include paintings of the cliffs and of the ranch's surrounding mountains. The landscape also helped define the public image of O'Keeffe as an artist of the American Southwest.
Ghost Ranch is not the same place as her Abiquiú home and studio. Both locations mattered to her, but they were separate properties. Abiquiú was a village and home base; Ghost Ranch was a larger landscape and retreat north of the village.