Cerro Pedernal is the New Mexico mountain that appears repeatedly in Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings.
Cerro Pedernal is a flat-topped mountain in northern New Mexico, near Abiquiú and Ghost Ranch. O'Keeffe painted it many times from different distances and viewpoints. Its distinctive silhouette made it easy to recognize and gave her a stable visual anchor in the surrounding landscape.
O'Keeffe once described the mountain as her private mountain and wrote that it was her favorite subject. She painted its top, she said, because it was the only place where she could see the earth's edge. The mountain therefore became both a literal landscape and a personal symbol.
Cerro Pedernal also has a direct connection to O'Keeffe's final wishes: her ashes were scattered from its summit after her death. It is sometimes confused with Shiprock or other iconic New Mexico formations, but Pedernal is the specific mountain most closely identified with her.