New Mexico inspired Georgia O'Keeffe’s famous paintings of desert bones and adobe churches.
O'Keeffe first visited the state in 1929 and returned repeatedly. She found subjects in its high-desert terrain, including cliffs, hills, clouds, churches, adobe buildings, and animal bones. The intense light and simplified forms encouraged the bold compositions for which her New Mexico paintings are known.
She spent summers in the state for many years before making it her permanent home after Alfred Stieglitz’s death in 1946. O'Keeffe lived and worked at Ghost Ranch and later at Abiquiú, where she maintained a house and studio. These places became central to her daily life and artistic practice.
New Mexico is sometimes confused with Texas or Arizona because all three states contain desert landscapes. O'Keeffe painted in more than one region, but New Mexico is the state most specifically associated with her mature landscape, bone, and adobe imagery.