In 1929 Georgia O’Keeffe began a lifelong love affair with New Mexico. In 1934 Arthur and Phoebe Pack were the owners of Ghost Ranch in northern New Mexico. The couple sold a parcel of land on the ranch to O’Keeffe in 1940. The Packs proceeded to donate the rest of the ranch to the Presbyterian Church in 1955. O’Keeffe became infuriated. She believed that her privacy would was about to be compromised. Today, Ghost Ranch offers respite to thousands of spiritual seekers. O’Keeffe’s home is not far away. When Alfred Stieglitz, O’Keeffe’s husband, died in 1946 the artist moved permanently to her home in northern New Mexico.
Depicting the Southwest
The artist’s images of skulls and flowers have become an ubiquitous representation of the American southwest. Her paintings are world renown. O’Keefe’s Abiquiu home and studio are a designated Historic National Landmark. Georgia O’Keeffe died in 1986. Her ashes are scattered behind her home above the summit. She is now one with Pedernal. The mountain immortalized as “O’Keeffe Country.”