The day after gazing at Georgia O’Keeffe’s landscapes and monumental flower paintings at the museum in Santa Fe, we drove north through the monsoon-greened high desert of northern New Mexico, the landscape the artist adopted as her own.

As soon as I saw it, that was my country, Georgia O’Keeffe said of New Mexico. I’d never seen anything like it before, but it fitted to me exactly. –from a video at the O’Keeffe Museum

I’d admired this painting, The Road to Pedernal, at the O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe. O’Keeffe’s summer home at Ghost Ranch enjoyed a view of the Pedernal, which she painted again and again.

It’s the most wonderful place you can imagine….And I have this mountain, the Pedernal. God told me that if I painted it often enough, he would give it to me. –O’Keeffe in a letter to a friend

The next day, as we neared the tiny village of Abiquiu (not far from Ghost Ranch), where she lived in the winter, I wondered if we’d be able to see “her mountain” from the highway.

Sure enough, the flat-topped peak unmistakably appeared in the distance, and I turned onto a side road to chase a better view.

O’Keeffe country

On the main highway, we saw a sign for tours of O’Keeffe’s Abiquiu studio. I inquired about tickets, but they were sold out weeks in advance, I was told. Instead we simply drove the backroads of Abiquiu and saw the landscape for ourselves, where O’Keeffe’s spirit still lingers.

Not far up the highway, a sign for Ghost Ranch appeared, with O’Keeffe’s distinctive cow skull imagery, so we turned in, even though I’d heard that her Ghost Ranch home is not open to public tour.

What majestic views along the road, and that sky!

I bet there’s an O’Keeffe painting of this view.

As it turns out, Ghost Ranch is a Presbyterian-owned education and retreat center, and O’Keeffe’s summer home is located off the main road, out of view and not open for tours.

But you can stroll the grounds by the main hall…

…which includes a smattering of rustic cabins — one of which O’Keeffe once stayed in, or so a docent told us — and admire the rugged beauty of the landscape.

On the porch of one cabin, sun-bleached animal bones were arranged on a table, evoking O’Keeffe’s bone-and-sky paintings.

Sky and rock and bone…

…and flowers — the inspiration for her art is everywhere at Ghost Ranch and Abiquiu.

If you go, reserve in advance for tours of O’Keeffe’s Abiquiu studio, and be sure to pop into the lovely gift shop at the Abiquiu Inn for a look around and maybe a souvenir.

Up next: Mesa Verde’s cliff dwellings, and a coyote! For a look back at hidden gardens, art, and architecture in Santa Fe, click here.

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Digging Deeper: News and Upcoming Events

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