Georgia Totto O’Keeffe (1887–1986)
Abiquiú Home and Studio, 13 County Road 165, Abiquiú, NM, 87510
Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, 217 Johnson Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501
505-685-4539
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ABOUT
Located in the village of Abiquiú, Georgia O’Keeffe’s second New Mexico home is open to the public via guided tour. After arriving at the house on the museum’s shuttles, an experienced tour guide will lead visitors around the property, exploring the interior and exterior of O’Keeffe’s adobe home, along with her active garden. Visitors will see the home as O’Keeffe left it in 1984 when she moved to Santa Fe for the last two years of her life. Filled with her personal belongings such as homewares, furniture, textiles, rocks, bones, and more, visitors will be able to experience the space where O’Keeffe lived and worked for 35 years.
SPECIAL RESOURCES
“When I first saw the Abiquiú house it was a ruin with an adobe wall around the garden broken in a couple places by falling trees. As I climbed and walked about in the ruin I found a patio with a very pretty well house and bucket to draw up water. It was a good sized patio with a long wall with a door on one side. The wall with a door in it was something I had to have. It took me ten years to get it—three more years to fix up the house so I could live in it—and after that the wall with a door was painted many times.”
— Georgia O’Keeffe
Georgia Totto O’Keeffe (1887 – 1986)
Georgia O’Keeffe is one of the most significant artists of the 20th century, renowned for her contribution to modern art. Born on November 15, 1887, in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, O’Keeffe decided at a young age to become an artist. Initially trained in traditional techniques, her artistic trajectory shifted after she was introduced to abstraction. O’Keeffe’s work caught the attention of Alfred Stieglitz, who would eventually become her husband. He became the first to exhibit her work in 1916.
By the 1920s, O’Keeffe gained prominence for her radical depictions of skyscrapers and flowers. In the summer of 1929, O’Keeffe made the first of many trips to northern New Mexico. O’Keeffe’s time in the region inspired a new direction in her art. She made the state her permanent home in 1949. Despite macular degeneration, she continued creating art until her death in Santa Fe on March 6, 1986, at the age of 98.
LEARN MORE
Georgia O’Keeffe maintained two homes in Northern New Mexico. Her summer house, twelve miles from Abiquiú, sits on 12 acres at the edge of a 21,000-acre property called Ghost Ranch. When O’Keeffe purchased the parcel in 1940, the greater Ghost Ranch operated as a dude ranch—a destination for visitors and tourists. Though breathtakingly situated, O’Keeffe’s Ghost Ranch home was not suitable for her to live in year-round. O’Keeffe purchased a larger home, in the village of Abiquiú, for its well-irrigated garden and the comfort it offered in winter. While both houses are owned by the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, only the Abiquiú Home and Studio is open for public tours.
The Home and Studio in Abiquiú reflects a blend of Native American and Spanish Colonial building styles, regional architectural traditions dating back centuries. The oldest rooms of the house were probably built in 1744. The house was expanded in the 19th century into a pueblo-style adobe (mud brick) hacienda, with rows of rooms organized around a common open space, or plazuela.
The 5,000-square-foot compound was in ruins in 1945 when she purchased the home from the Catholic Church. For the next four years, O’Keeffe supervised its restoration, which was carried out by her friend, Maria Chabot, and a local workforce. O’Keeffe finally made Abiquiú her permanent home in 1949. The special character of the property, a quiet sanctuary from which to draw inspiration, perfectly suited O’Keeffe’s needs. O’Keeffe lived in the home from 1949 until 1984. She died in Santa Fe on March 6, 1986, at the age of 98. The O’Keeffe Home and Studio was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1998 and is now part of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.
O’Keeffe’s home in Abiquiú reveals her commitment to design and the aesthetics of her surroundings. Traditional adobe structures are found throughout the region, but O’Keeffe made her home distinctly modern, with abundant natural light, updated amenities, and midcentury modern furniture. She also decorated it with rocks and bones from her collection, and cultivated a garden that provided food for her and her guests. O’Keeffe may be one of the region’s most famous residents, but she is just a part of the larger human story that has unfolded in this valley over thousands of years. Rich in history, this land continues to fascinate and inspire all who see it.
