Ghost Ranch supplied the title and landscape for Georgia O'Keeffe's Ghost Ranch paintings.
Ghost Ranch is a retreat and education center near Abiquiú in northern New Mexico. O'Keeffe began visiting the area in the 1930s and repeatedly painted its dramatic cliffs, mesas, and wide desert spaces. The site became one of the most recognizable geographic settings in her work.
She was especially drawn to the red and yellow cliffs of the Piedra Lumbre basin. Paintings associated with the area include works showing the landscape from different viewpoints and seasons. The terrain’s geological formations gave her broad, simplified shapes that could be transformed into highly abstract compositions.
Ghost Ranch is not the same place as O'Keeffe’s Abiquiú house. She had homes and studios connected with both locations, and the two sites are relatively close, which can lead to confusion. Her paintings often omit identifying details, but the title Ghost Ranch names the New Mexico setting directly.