Georgia O'Keeffe bought a house at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico in 1940 and called the area her 'faraway.' The dramatic cliffs, bones, roads, and wide skies there became recurring subjects in her paintings.
Ghost Ranch lies near Abiquiu in the Piedra Lumbre basin. O'Keeffe had visited northern New Mexico for years before purchasing the small house, and she often worked there during the warmer months. The landscape's layered geology and intense light supported her simplified, highly focused compositions.
Ghost Ranch and Abiquiu are related but different locations. O'Keeffe later acquired and restored a house in the village of Abiquiu, where she lived and worked for much of the year. Her Ghost Ranch property is now associated with the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum and remains a major site in accounts of her New Mexico years.