Ghost Ranch became closely associated with Georgia O'Keeffe's desert paintings.
O'Keeffe first visited the area in northern New Mexico in 1934 and repeatedly returned to paint its cliffs, mesas, bones, and expansive skies. Ghost Ranch lies near Abiquiú, in a landscape known for dramatic red and yellow rock formations. Its unusual geology gave her a distinctive group of Southwestern subjects.
The place was then known as Piedra Lumbre, meaning “shining stone.” O'Keeffe eventually acquired a house at Ghost Ranch, although she also maintained a home in the village of Abiquiú. The two locations are related but are not the same place, a distinction that often causes confusion.
Ghost Ranch is not simply a label attached to one painting. It is a real landscape and retreat whose forms appear across many works. O'Keeffe's association with it helped make the site part of the public story of American modernism and of New Mexico's visual culture.