Abiquiú became Georgia O'Keeffe's New Mexico home and is closely linked with her desert paintings.
O'Keeffe first visited New Mexico in 1917 and returned repeatedly, finding subjects that differed sharply from the city scenes and flowers associated with her earlier career. In 1945 she purchased a historic adobe house in Abiquiú, and after restoration it became one of her principal homes.
The surrounding landscape supplied recurring motifs, including cliffs, hills, roads, bones, and the distinctive door in the courtyard wall. O'Keeffe also maintained a home and studio at Ghost Ranch, north of Abiquiú. The two places are related but are not interchangeable: Abiquiú refers to the village and her adobe residence, while Ghost Ranch is a separate landscape farther north.
O'Keeffe lived primarily in New Mexico from 1949 onward. Her Abiquiú house is now preserved as a National Trust Historic Site, offering insight into the settings and objects that shaped her later work.