Georgia O’Keeffe is an artist who symbolizes American modernism. Wander around home and atelier in Abiquiu, learns that she has visited Japan.
Georgia O’Keeffe was a female artist who was active in the American modernist movement in the early to mid-1900s. She is famous for her style of fusion of abstract and landscape painting.
She moved from New York to Abiquiu, New Mexico, where she had spent her later years. Visitor can take a guided tour of the house and atelier where she lived at the time. The name is “The O’Keeffe Home & Studio Tours”. The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe manage this place.
Abiquiu is a town about an hour’s drive north-northwest of Santa Fe. It is surrounded by the reddish-brown land that is unique to New Mexico. The Georgia O’Keeffe Welcome Center building is along Route 84, which runs through the center of town. I made registration at the reception. When the time comes, a small bus that can seat about 10 people stops in front of the building and board. There were 6 participants when I attended. The guide was a young woman.
The bus took me to the Home location, which was a little away. The tour allowed to go inside the house. Normally, on this kind of tour, I imagine that I would just look inside the room from the outside, but this tour shows us everything. I can enter the house.
First, enter the premises and walk through the garden to the courtyard patio. Adobe house shines with vibrant colors under the sunlight. In the courtyard, deer antlers, which are featured in her artwork was on the wall.
Then go inside the house. While listening to the guide’s explanations, I went through the living room, the courtyard, the former atelier, and the bedroom at the very back. The former atelier now features a stylishly coordinated interior. The view from the old studio and bedroom is magnificent. A vast wilderness of reddish-brown to flesh-colored earth spreads out. It is a luxurious view.
At the back of the atelier, on the way to the bedroom at the very back, there is a kitchen and bathroom. Tableware and kitchen utensils are neatly on the shelves in the kitchen. There are teapots and tea bowls on the shelves. The guide explains, “this represents her personality.”
“Is it Japanese one?” I ask.
“Maybe from Kyoto. Okeeffe went to Japan in 1959 and was influenced.”
By the way, in the living room, there was an interior design of a Buddha statue’s hand embedded in the wall. The bedroom at the back was not large. It is about 15 square meter. A small single bed is at the room. The view outside from the room is spectacular.
There is a red flag-style cushion in the living room, and when someone asks, “She is political something?”, the answer is, “She does not have it, it is Turkey flag, she has traveled worldwide, 50 countries, and be influenced.”
“She was already rich because she can travel to 50 countries, right?” I ask.
“Yes, she was actually very wealthy before coming here.” The guide answers.
I felt that this guide’s level was high when she repharesed my word “rich” to “wealthy”. According to the guide, this Home location was purchased for 5,000 US$ and it went on to a million dollar level afterwards. Her husband, a photographer, was also wealthy, and she was already famous and popular when he died. She later sold his assets in New York and moved to New Mexico.
Also, there was a dog in the panel photo that the guide had. I asked her ,”the dog kept at home?” She said, “of course”. The dog was “Chow Chow”.
The welcome center was a new and splendid building, with furniture in the lobby and a museum shop with a wide selection of products next to it. Also, next to the Welcome Center is a hotel ”Abiquiu Inn”. I would like you to stop by the store next to the lobby as I found some interesting items here and there.
Afterwards, I went to “Ghost Ranch”, where the guide explained during the tour that there was a house where she lived in the summer. I thought the place I saw on this tour was “Ghost Ranch”, but it was misunderstanding.
Head to the location about 20 minutes by car from the Abiquiu Welcome Center. After passing through the gate with the plate of “Ghost Ranch”, I found an old wooden mountain hut on the right side of the road. Looking at the mountains in the distance with the hut in the background. I was overwhelmed by the majestic scenery.
By the way, the flat-topped mountain (Cerro Pedernal) that she often depicted, could be seen on the left on the way to Ghost Ranch.
Those interested in Georgia O’Keeffe should not only visit the museum in Santa Fe, but also visit The O’Keeffe Home & Studio tour and Ghost Ranch. You should be able to see things that you would not understand just by looking at her paintings. Also, if you do not know much about her, I think it would be a good idea to visit Abiquiu first to understand her background, and then visit the art museum in Santa Fe.
Visited in 2024.
Basic Information
■ Name : The O’Keeffe Home & Studio Tours
■ Address : The O’Keeffe Welcome Center, 21120 U.S. 84, Abiquiú, NM 87510
■ Homepage : https://www.okeeffemuseum.org/the-okeeffe-museum-welcome-center/
■ Directions : Approx. 1 hour by car from Santa Fe. US 84 (W) → US 285 (N) → US 84 (W)
■ Others
・Advance reservations are required for tours. Due to the popularity of this tour, It is better to have an earlier plan and make reservations in advance.
・There were 6 participants on the tour when I visited. The small bus heading to the house can only seat about 10 people, so I think there will be a maximum of about 10 people level per tour. Therefore, if you do not make a reservation early, there is a high possibility that you will not be able to get your desired date and time. The tour time is 1 hour and 45 minutes.
