Which U.S. state became Georgia O'Keeffe's main artistic setting?

New Mexico became Georgia O'Keeffe's main artistic setting. She first visited the state in 1917 and returned repeatedly after spending the summer there in 1929, when its landscapes and architecture became central to her work.

O'Keeffe painted the region's cliffs, adobe buildings, roads, bones, flowers, and broad skies in a simplified, intensely focused style. She was particularly drawn to the stark forms around Abiquiú and Ghost Ranch. The area's light and geography provided subjects very different from the skyscrapers and flowers of her earlier New York period.

She bought a house in Abiquiú in 1945 and moved there in 1949 after the death of her husband, photographer and gallery owner Alfred Stieglitz. She also maintained a home at Ghost Ranch, a dramatic area north of Abiquiú. These places are often confused, but they were distinct residences connected to her New Mexico life.

O'Keeffe's association with New Mexico became so strong that the state is now central to public understanding of her art. Her Santa Fe museum and preserved homes attract visitors interested in both her paintings and her working environment.