Ghost Ranch became a major subject of Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings after 1934.
Ghost Ranch is a dramatic landscape near Abiquiu in northern New Mexico. O'Keeffe began spending time there in the mid-1930s and repeatedly painted its cliffs, mesas, sky, and surrounding terrain. The area's distinctive red and ocher formations became closely identified with her New Mexico work.
She had first visited New Mexico in 1929 and initially spent time in places including Taos. Her later relationship with Ghost Ranch was more sustained, and the landscape became one of the settings through which she developed a highly recognizable regional vocabulary.
Ghost Ranch is sometimes mixed up with Abiquiu because both are central to O'Keeffe's New Mexico story. Abiquiu was her later home, while Ghost Ranch was a nearby landscape and working environment. They are related locations but not interchangeable names.