Georgia O’Keeffe: Abiquiu, New Mexico Home/Studio

This blog shares highlights of my long-anticipated visit to get a glimpse of the life and art of Georgia O’Keeffe at her Abiquiu home and studio in the spring of 2024.

Georgia O’Keeffe is one of my favorite modern artists. I enjoy her style overall and especially her paintings of large, abstract flowers. As an educator of both art history and 2D design, her works and her life are highly inspirational.

It has been my long-time desire to make a pilgrimage to her home turf in New Mexico and experience the scenes she painted!

That dream became reality in spring 2024.

We spent two days focused on Georgia O’Keeffe in New Mexico. Two nights lodging at the Abiquiu Inn (more below) with Day One touring O’Keeffe’s Abiquiu home and studio in the morning and explored O’Keeffe at Ghost Ranch in the afternoon. Day Two, we drove to Santa Fe and visited the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.

My Georgia O’Keeffe Pilgrimage in 4 Parts!

This is one of a four-part blog which focuses on my quest to embrace Georgia O’Keeffe in her favorite place on earth: north central New Mexico. A snapshot of her and her art is the subject of each of the posts.

• Georgia O’Keeffe’s Home in Abiquiu, New Mexico (this blog)
• Georgia O’Keeffe at Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, New Mexico
• The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Includes a detailed Bio on O’Keeffe.
• Abiquiu, the Village, the Inn and the Church

Who is Georgia O’Keeffe?

Georgia O’Keeffe is an American, female, abstract artist in a new century, the 20th Century. Those four distinctions say a lot. American artists were just coming into their own amidst the influential, established 19th century European art world. Female artists were a rarity; they were expected to teach, not DO art. And at a time when Realism and Impressionism were at their height, Abstraction was not only new, but highly controversial in the early 20th century art world. This is the world in which Georgia O’Keeffe entered and conquered – Female, American, Abstract, in a New Century of art.

O’Keeffe Bio

For an IN-DEPTH BIOGRAPHY on her life and art, check out my post on the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.

O’Keeffe in Abiquiu

Our O’Keeffe Abiquiu home tour was the highlight of our time in Abiquiu. During the 75 minute tour with an expert O’Keeffe guide, we explored every corner of her historic home and garden. We visited all parts of the home; the outdoor patio, subject of over two dozen paintings, was my favorite space. In the sitting room, dining room, kitchen, pantry, and laundry room, we got a glimpse of her daily life. Finally, O’Keeffe’s studio and bedroom shared beautiful views of the landscape outside her windows that inspired her art.

O’Keeffe’s Two Northern New Mexico Homes

Georgia O’Keeffe maintained two homes in Northern New Mexico. Her summer house sits on 12 acres in the desert at the edge of Ghost Ranch. Though breathtakingly situated, it was not suitable for her to live in year-round. (details on O’Keeffe’s Ghost Ranch blog)

For the winter months, O’Keeffe purchased a larger home in the village of Abiquiu. It offered comfort in the colder months. The crumbling adobe house needed a lot of work before she could live in it; O’Keeffe spent three years rebuilding and remodeling it to her specifications.

On three acres, its well-irrigated garden was a major drawing point for her. She cultivated this garden which provided food for her and her guests. We visited it in the spring so it was quite barren, but its potential was still clear. At the “sanctioned” suggestion of our guide, I did get to glean some hollyhock seeds to take home with me to share a bit of O’Keeffe’s garden in my own!

After her husband, Alfred Stieglitz, died, O’Keeffe left New York to make Abiquiu her permanent home until her death at age 98. She drew inspiration from the unique character of the property which provided her with a quiet sanctuary. She lived in the home from 1949 until 1984 when she moved to Santa Fe where she died on March 6, 1986.

The O’Keeffe Home and Studio is now part of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Both the Abiquiu and Ghost Ranch homes are owned by the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, but only the Abiquiu Home and Studio is open for public tours. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1998.

O’Keeffe’s Abiquiu Home: My Visit

Visiting O’Keeffe’s Abiquiu home in person revealed to me her commitment to design and the aesthetics of her surroundings.

The Entrance

We were immediately introduced to O’Keeffe’s interest in design, line and the unique aspects of the home in the door in which we entered.

Wooden slat double doors with light shining through the slats are called a Zaguan. This doorway mesmerized O’Keeffe; it was something that she “had to have.”

The smaller arched cut-out door on one side is a door within a door, made with crossed overlapping 2 x 4″ slats of wood. The “short door” (defined as “lower-than-average”) leads from the main exterior courtyard into a very small, private room known as the salita.

This unique entrance to her home was very interesting and reflective of her personality. O’Keeffe decorated it with rocks and bones from her extensive collections of both.

O’Keeffe’s interest in the “ordinary” can be seen in her collections of common place rocks around her home. Here is part of her collection in the salita.

The Doors

Doors and passageways throughout O’Keeffe’s home were fascinating! Each held its own personality, and its own story!

Patios & Courtyards

The Abiquiu O’Keeffe Home and Studio reflects a blend of Native American and Spanish Colonial building styles – with a touch of O’Keeffe modernism thrown in. These regional architectural traditions date back centuries. The oldest rooms of the house are estimated to have been built in 1744. In the 19th century, the house was expanded into a pueblo-style adobe (mud brick) hacienda, with rows of rooms organized around a plazuela, a common open space.

The patio, subject of over two dozen O’Keeffe paintings, was my favorite part of the house. It was one of the courtyard walls of the home that first attracted O’Keeffe.

She recalled: “As I climbed and walked about in the ruins I found a patio with a very pretty well house and bucket to draw up water.”

O’Keeffe fell in love with The Door in the patio wall. Our guide shared that O’Keeffe said: “It was a good-sized patio with a long wall with a door on one side. That wall with a door in it was something I had to have.”

As an art history teacher, and lover of O’Keeffe’s paintings, I knew she was fascinated with this door. She made at least 20 paintings and drawings of it. They ranged from ones with austere shadows and stark lines to others with romantic flourishes such as falling snowflakes and drifting leaves.

She is quoted as saying “I’m always trying to paint that door — I never quite get it. . It’s a curse — the way I feel, I must continually go on with that door.”

This example of this door is an example of one thing I love about the work of O’Keeffe. Viewing the door during a visit to the Abiquiu house, one will discover that it is a quite ordinary door.

For O’Keeffe: The Ordinary – becomes Extra-Ordinary!

For me, that fact is what makes her art unique! O’Keeffe takes the ordinary – whatever the subject – and makes it extra-ordinary!

Interior Living Spaces

While traditional adobe structures are found throughout the region, her home was designed in a distinctly modern “O’Keeffe” style. This included mid-20th-century modern furniture, updated amenities and of course, abundant natural light.

Living/Sitting Room

We get a glimpse of O’Keeffe’s daily life in her living areas. The sitting room is the one most often photographed with its expansive and seasonally-changing view onto her garden.

Our guide shared a photograph of the sitting room as it was one decorated during O’Keeffe’s time in the home.

A coiled white rattlesnake skeleton is a notable item of the unique decor in O’Keeffe’s sitting room. It was a part of her naturalistic decor – “white-on-white.” The skeleton was often photographed by her friend, Todd Webb, whose print we saw on display at the Santa Fe O’Keeffe Museum.

It is prominently displayed in a glass-covered niche, built into an adobe bench.

Dining Room, Kitchen & Pantry

The dining room is just off of the sitting room and opens up to the patio outside. The simplicity and functionality of the furniture and setting was striking and symbolic of her life style.

The view from the dining room is seen in this photo. The dining room double doors are on the left side.

The ever-changing landscape scenery viewed out of her kitchen window provided O’Keeffe with on-going inspiration.

Interestingly, O’Keeffe’s pantry also revealed her simple but creative lifestyle. I was intrigued by her obsession with interestingly shaped serving pieces and cookware.

Studio & Sculpture

O’Keeffe’s spacious studio offered artistic northern-lit windows providing beautiful views of the landscape that fed her creativity and inspired her art.

Our guide shared a copy of this photo of O’Keeffe in her studio.

I was surprised at the number of copies I saw of O’Keeffe’s sculpture “Abstraction” both in her Abiquiu home and the Santa Fe museum. Completed in her later life, we saw one displayed in the corner of her studio during our visit.

We saw another “Abstraction” sculpture displayed in a private patio inside her Abiquiu home.

Bedroom

O’Keeffe’s bedroom in her Abiquiu home is smaller than one might expect. It has space for a single bed, chair, and nightstand – and of course, displays of a few special rocks and shells from her extensive collections!

But it was the spacious, breath-taking view, from the two large windows O’Keeffe installed in the corner, that was the focal point of the bedroom.

Mesa & Road East

O’Keeffe loved this view from her bedroom window of the Mesa and Road East. It is seen in numerous paintings.

The tour ended with free time in the yard area just outside her bedroom, overlooking the Mesa and the Road East.

Each part of my O’Keeffe pilgrimage has provided me with a deeper glimpse into her life and a better appreciation of this New Mexico period of her art. My favorite paintings are still her early enlarged flower painting where she makes simple, ordinary flowers become extra-ordinary. This trip provided me with a greater appreciation and love for her New Mexico landscape paintings. I look forward to seeing her art in future museum sightings in years to come with a heightened awareness of the source of her inspiration.

Visit & Itinerary

We allowed two days for our O’Keeffe pilgrimage with two overnights in Abiquiu at the Abiquiu Inn. We chose the Abiquiu Inn for its proximity to our objective sites.

• Day One morning: We walked next door from our lodging to the cafe to get our morning coffee, and step next door to the O’Keeffe Information Center to get to meet our guide for the O’Keeffe Abiquiu Home Tour.
• Day One afternoon, we drove a few miles to Ghost Ranch for our O’Keeffe Landscape Tour.
• Day Two we drove from Abiquiu to Santa Fe for our visit of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum – and leisurely exploration of the other treasures available in Santa Fe.

I booked tickets ahead of time through the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum website (okeeffemuseum.org) for guided tours for her Abiquiu home, a Ghost Ranch O’Keeffe Landscape Tour as well as entrance to the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. I recommend getting tickets several months in advance if you want to maintain the schedule on your terms and your timeline. The online ticketing and confirmation process was easy.

Traveler Tip: We flew into Albuquerque and rented a car at the airport. We stopped in Los Alamos for an “Oppenheimer experience” on our way to Abiquiu. If we had had more time, a stop in Taos would have been interesting.

Sources

• O’Keeffe Home & Studio Group Tour Guide. 22 March 2024
• okeeffemuseum.org
• Personal on-site tour experience of Cher B & Skip B. 22 March 2024

Related Georgia O’Keeffe New Mexico Posts

Georgia O’Keeffe in Abiquiu

Georgia O’Keeffe Landscape Tour of Ghost Ranch

Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe

Georgia O’Keeffe Biography

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