Ghost Ranch supplied many landscapes and bones for Georgia O’Keeffe’s paintings.
Ghost Ranch is a large retreat and education center in northern New Mexico, near Abiquiú. O’Keeffe first visited the area in the late 1920s and later spent extended periods there. Its red cliffs, broad skies, mesas, and isolated forms became recurring subjects in her work.
She also collected animal bones from the surrounding landscape and carried them back to use as painting subjects. Works such as Pelvis with the Distance and Pelvis Series reflect her interest in framing distant landscapes through large, simplified bone shapes. These paintings combine recognizable objects with abstraction and unusual viewpoints.
Ghost Ranch is often confused with O’Keeffe’s Abiquiú home, but they are separate locations. She lived at Ghost Ranch for periods before settling permanently in Abiquiú in 1949. The ranch remains associated with her legacy, while her restored Abiquiú house is preserved as a museum site.