A few years ago we went to Santa Fe and visited the Georgia O’Keeffe museum and I found out you could also visit her home in Abiquiu.  Unfortunately, it was closed when we were visiting so I vowed to come back and see it.  

We made a reservation in March for our May visit because I read that it frequently sold out of tickets.  When we realized we made a mistake on the date, I was afraid we would not get to visit, but we called the museum and they were able to change our date and time.  We were very lucky.  This home is about 12 miles away from Ghost Ranch (her other New Mexico home). She lived here in the fall and winter and at Ghost Ranch for the other half of the year. 

We arrived at the visitor’s center/museum about 20 minutes early.  It gave us time to wander around the museum and the inn located next door.  Then we got on the shuttle bus that would take us to her house.  It was only about a five minute drive away from the visitor’s center.  Her house was owned by the Catholic Church and they had hoped to build a boys school there, but it never happened and they sold it to Georgia O’Keeffe for a modest sum and then she donated three times that amount to the church. It was purchased in 1945, but the oldest rooms in the house were built in 1744. 

The home was in ruins when she bought it, but her friend Maria Cabot supervised the restoration while O’Keeffe settled her husband’s estate in New York.  It took three years to complete and O’Keeffe moved in 1949 and lived there until 1984. When we arrived at the front door, a cat came to greet us.  The tour guide was full of interesting information.  I was surprised to learn that the garden is still flourishing with all the fruits and vegetables and herbs that O’Keeffe enjoyed.  There is even an irrigation system that is still used today. 

Georgia O’Keefe loved the courtyard of the house and was pictured often next to this door because it was her favorite.  

You can see inspiration for her work all over the inside and outside of the home. 

Her pantry is still stocked with herbs that she gathered from her garden with her handwriting on the jars. 

O’Keeffe had plywood tables in her kitchen and dining room and liked bare light bulbs.  The only room with an actual lamp is in the dining room and it was a gift. 

Her favorite chair was a camping chair, which she would take with her on her travels, but you also see several around the house. 

The living room is a great example of the simplicity of the home and the connection to the outdoors. She hung her art on the walls in order to see if she was actually finished painting or not. 

Her studio and bedroom were across the yard.  

The views from the studio do not look real.  You can see her favorite chair in the studio and where the bed sits was once where her easel was located.  (The bed was for her caretaker in later years.)

There are still clothes and shoes in her closet area and binders of information about her life in the studio area.  It was also decorated with some of her very few sculptures. 

Her bedroom was my favorite.  The room is very simple, but with a darker color than the rest of the house. The views from there are incredible.  She loved the road view from her bedroom and painted it several times. 

Her house appears simple from the outside, but she had everything she needed within it.  I don’t know why she switched to the Ghost Ranch in the summer, I would have stayed at this house all year.  Although you can’t visit the Ghost Ranch house, you can take tours around the area and see a lot of the landscapes that O’Keeffe painted. The Georgia O’Keeffe foundation has finally purchased Ghost Ranch and will begin working on restoring it.  I think this house is a better option because it was left how she lived in it.  The Ghost Ranch house will be all redone.  However, I will still go see it when it’s complete!