Pedernal, formally Cerro Pedernal, appears repeatedly in Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings and was called her private mountain.
The flat-topped mountain rises near Abiquiú in northern New Mexico. O'Keeffe could see it from places where she lived and worked, and its distinctive profile became a recurring visual anchor in her landscapes.
She once described the mountain as her private mountain, a phrase that captures both its personal importance and its repeated appearance in her art. Her paintings do not function as topographic records; she simplified and reinterpreted the mountain through color, shape, and changing viewpoint.
Pedernal is sometimes confused with the Sandia Mountains near Albuquerque, another well-known New Mexico range. Cerro Pedernal is instead associated particularly with the Abiquiú area and O'Keeffe’s home landscape.