Visiting Santa Fe, take a day-trip to O'Keeffe Country and Georgia O'Keeffe's White Place

      Gerogia O'Keeffe's White Place, Abiquiu, NM

Besides painting, Georgia O’Keeffe had two great passions in her life, Alfred Stieglitz and New Mexico. New Mexico was kinder. She first came to New Mexico in 1929 and spent the summer in Taos at Mabel Dodge Luhan’s home. It was love at first sight.

Georgia O’Keeffe met her future husband, Alfred Steiglitz in 1916 his art gallery in New York City when she went to confront him about exhibiting her work without her permission. Shortly after, they fell in love, he was 23 years older and Stieglitz was married at the time. They began an affair and married in 1924 after his divorce. It was a turbulent relationship. She fled to Taos with her friend Beck Strand after she caught Mr. Steiglitz, as she called him, with another woman. From that time on, she spent much of her time in New Mexico.

Miss O’Keeffe, as she was known in Abiquiu, lived and worked in New Mexico on and off for over fifty years. It is also where she died at the age of 98 in 1986.

In 1934 she visited Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, southwest of Taos and fell in love with the landscape. One of her favorite places to paint was The White Place (Plaza Blanca) east of Abiquiu. It is a very special spot. The sand near the rock formations is different from the high-desert sand usually found in New Mexico; it is very white and granular and feels like beach sand. Eons ago, this was ocean and reportedly, you can still find the occasional clamshell here. Even the rocks on the ground are different from those normally found in the area. It is the same today as it was when the artist used to paint it. It is a short, easy hike. You can even bring your paints (or camera) and capture this special place as O’Keeffe did.

If you love O’Keeffe’s work and want to see the inspiration for some of her paintings or want to visit a beautiful, untouched place, put O’Keeffe Country and The White Place on your agenda for a day-trip when visiting the Santa Fe or Taos area and step back in time

If you go to O’Keeffe Country, here are a few places you might want to visit:

Georgia O’Keeffe Home and Studio is now owned by Santa Fe’s Georgia O’Keeffe museum. It is only available by pre-arranged tour. Book early, especially in summer, as the tours are popular. (Her Ghost Ranch home is not open to visitors.)

Ghost Ranch is a Presbyterian Conference Center. They have two museums, hiking trails and landscape tours. They welcome visitors.

The White Place (Plaza Blanca) is on land owned by Dar al Islam  an Islamic retreat center. They make the site available to visitors.