Abiquiu, New Mexico, USA

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. Along with O’Keeffe’s home in Abiquiu, we got to experience a bit of the places and scenes that enticed O’Keeffe to settle here.

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

That dream became reality in spring 2024.

We spent two days focused on Georgia O’Keeffe in New Mexico. Two nights we lodged at the Abiquiu Inn (more on this below).

Day One we toured O’Keeffe’s Abiquiu home and studio in the morning and visited the art of O’Keeffe at Ghost Ranch in the afternoon. We explored the village of Abiquiu on our own free time during the day and evening. This blog focuses on Abiquiu.

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 can be seen in each of the posts.

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

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 19th century, established 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.

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

Abiquiu

Abiquiu, New Mexico is about 50 miles (or 1 hours drive) from Santa Fe. It is about 15 miles (20 minutes) from Ghost Ranch. Close by, and also worth visiting, are Taos, Los Alamos and the Bandelier National Park.

The village of Abiquiu itself is literally a “blink and you miss it” spot in the road. In fact, when we approached it the first time, after dark, we drove by it several times before figuring out that this was our destination. In the daylight, however, it is hard to miss!

O’Keeffe Welcome Center

Since our main purpose in stopping in Abiquiu was my Georgia O’Keeffe pilgrimage, The O’Keeffe Welcome Center was a major stop. We had purchased our tickets for the 75 minute Abiquiu House and Studio Tour online (okeeffemuseum.org) ahead of time, but this is where the tour began. Here we met our guide and caught the van to transport us the short distance across the road and up the hill to her home.

Gift Shop

The O’Keeffe Welcome Center Gift Shop was well furnished with posters, post cards and O’Keeffe books. I looked for a tee shirt showcasing one of her famed flowers, my favorite, but not to be. I learned that the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum manages licensing for artwork reproduction which follows strict guidelines for the reproduction of her artwork, established by the Museum and originally by O’Keeffe herself. Any reproduction or use must comply with specific, individual, or overall restrictions to prevent unauthorized or inappropriate commercial use.  So my hunt for a tee shirt with O’Keeffe flowers ended in vain. (Interestingly, I can find them online – so I wonder what is going on?)

Georgia O’Keeffe Home & Studio

The O’Keeffe Home & Studio tour was exactly what I anticipated. For full details, check out the blog I created for it

The O’Keeffe Home and Studio is part of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Both the Abiquiu “winter” home and her second “summer” home at Ghost Ranch are owned by the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Only the Abiquiu Home and Studio is open for public tours. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1998.

The Door

The main entrance to the home is fascinating! The 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.”

Interior

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 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.

Patio Wall with a Door

Her interior patio was my favorite part of the house. Our guide shared that O’Keeffe spoke fondly of this area: “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.” The door in the patio wall is something that O’Keeffe painted again and again.

Bedroom with a View

The focal point of her bedroom was the spacious, breath-taking view from the two large windows O’Keeffe installed in the corner. The Mesa and the Road East were also the subject of numerous paintings.

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

Click here for my blog on O’Keeffe’s Abiquiu Home & Studio

Each part of my O’Keeffe pilgrimage provided a deeper glimpse into her life in New Mexico. 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.

Abiquiu Inn

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 O’Keeffe’s Home & Studio, Ghost Ranch, as well as dining options. It proved to be a good choice.

The Abiquiu Inn offers cottages and units of various types (and prices) around the grounds for single overnights or longer stays. It was quaint and fit in with the whole “O’Keeffe Experience” I was seeking.

The Cafe Abiquiu offered breakfast, lunch and dinner with dining inside and outside. The Gift Shop with lots and lots of both local and other items was attached.

Rooms and cottages for couples, families or large groups – short term or long term – were spread out over spacious park-like grounds.

Our unit had an adobe-like feeling with a gas fire-place adding ambiance – and warmth. It opened onto the patio area of our quad complex.

Abiquiu, the Village

The small village of Abiquiu, which included the O’Keeffe Home & Studio, is atop a hill across the road from the Inn. Easy-going shops and a well-maintained church appeared to be functioning. On the other side of the dusty street were many run-down, old, forgotten buildings in ruins, presenting the impression of a ghost town. The whole area presented a very charming, mysterious ambiance! I imagined that the ambiance that once mesmerized O’Keeffe, was still present to mesmerize today’s visitors as well.

The name Abiquiu comes from the Tewa language, meaning “wild chokecherry place”. The village dates back to a 1700s Spanish colonial settlement. It is likely to have been built on top of an earlier, A.D. 1300, Tewa Pueblo. Populated by Hispanicized Native Americans (called genízaros) in the mid-18th century to defend against Comanche raids, it served as a buffer town for the Spanish Crown.

Abiquiu Church

One of the picturesque discoveries in our wanderings around the Old Village of Abiquiu was the Santo Tomas el Apostol Roman Catholic Church. Established around 1754, it is not surprising that this historic site has a timeless reputation as a favorite site featured in art of all mediums. Both the church and its surrounding landscape inspire local art, including of course, that of O’Keeffe. Her home and property, purchased from the Roman Catholic Church, is just down the street.

I could not find any record of O’Keeffe’s painting of this specific church, but it reminds me of something she would and did paint!

Abiquiu Old Village Shops

For locals and tourists interested in purchasing items with a local historic flare, this little antique shop was the place to explore!

Abiquiu Old Village Ruins

Many of the buildings in the old rural village were deserted ruins, over-grown and over-run with twisting, dry weeds. Once a part of a thriving village, these ruins held secrets with an interesting history, as do all ruins! Plus, they were fascinating to photograph!

It was an old ruin such as this in which O’Keeffe saw potential! She purchased a then-crumbling house from the Roman Catholic Church in 1945, painstakingly restored and remodeled it over a 3-year period, and built it into her home and studio. She lived and worked here from 1949-1984.

Ghost Ranch

Ghost Ranch is about 14 miles outside of the village of Abiquiu, but bears the same address and is a Must Visit when in the neighborhood.

Ghost Ranch Map

The entrance to Ghost Ranch is in the lower center of the map. Immediately to the left of the entrance is the horse corral where one can rent horses and guides to explore the area. Center, just to the left of the Logo is Chimney Rock. On the upper left of the map is O’Keeffe’s Ghost Ranch home.

Ghost Ranch Welcome Center

Chimney Rock

O’Keeffe & Juniper Trees

Pedernal

Ghost Ranch Museums

The museums on-site, not related to O’Keeffe, were small but well done.

I probably would not have sought out Ghost Ranch were it not for first-hand viewing of the landscapes in O’Keeffe’s paintings. For someone interested in anthropology, paleontology and archaeological digs, however, it would be fascinating.

Ghost Ranch Logo

Click here for my blog on Georgia O’Keeffe at Ghost Ranch

The Abiquiu visit accomplished its mission – to provide me with a first-hand journey into the life and art of Georgia O’Keeffe, one of my favorite artists. Ghost Ranch, O’Keeffe’s Home & Studio, the run-down village ruins, and the Abiquiu Inn were authentic. As if I had been transported back in time, I am now able to related to the art O’Keeffe created in this land she loved and called home.

Visit & Itinerary

• Day One morning: We walked next door from our Abiquiu Inn lodging to the cafe to get our breakfast and morning coffee, and step next door to the O’Keeffe Information Center to get to meet our guide for the morning O’Keeffe Abiquiu Home Tour.
• Day One afternoon, we drove a few miles to Ghost Ranch for our O’Keeffe Landscape Tour. That evening, we explored the old village of Abiquiu next to her home. The delicious, home-cooked meal options in the Abiquiu Inn cafe made for a perfect ending to a perfect day!
• Day Two we left Abiquiu and drove to Santa Fe for our visit of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum – and leisurely exploration of the other treasures of Santa Fe.

I booked dated and timed 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.

We flew into Albuquerque and rented a car at the airport. We took several days to tour Abiquiu, Ghost Rance, Santa Fe and Los Alamos. With additional time, a visit to Taos would be interesting and workable as well.

Sources

• GhostRanch.org
• okeeffemuseum.org
• O’Keeffe Tour Guide of her Abiquiu Home
• Personal discovery by Cher B and Skip B of Abiquiu Inn, Village, and O’Keeffe Home. 22 and 23 March 2024

Related Georgia O’Keeffe New Mexico Posts

Georgia O’Keeffe Home & Studio in Abiquiu

Georgia O’Keeffe Landscape Tour of Ghost Ranch

Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe

Georgia O’Keeffe Biography