Georgia O'Keefe Home, Garden and Studio Tour in Abiquiu

Santa Fe Skies RV Park

Santa Fe, New Mexico

September 3, 2026 

When I googled who is Georgia O'Keefe, the first thing stated was...a famous American artist known as the "Mother of American Modernism."  That is true, but she was far more.  Yes, she create paintings of abstract nature, created sculptures in clay and bronze, and created various clay and ceramic pieces in a career that lasted for 70 decades.  She was also a collector of bones and rocks,

she loved roses, 

and grew her own food and did her own cooking,

The entrance to the patio...notice the door on the left.  She designed a small people size door so the entire gate could be kept closed unless needed. 

Joe and I were up early and made the drive to Abiquiu (Ah-bih-cue) to take the tour of Georgia O'Keefe's home, garden and studio.  It is a great tour of not more than 8 folks and the docent was the best we have ever experienced.  In 1984, when Georgia was a young 98.5 years old she wasn't feeling well she went to Santa Fe to get better with every intention to return to her Abiquiu home.  That did not happen as she passed away and never returned to the home that she loved dearly.  Today, the garden, home and studio are exactly the way it was when she left it in 1984.  

In 1950, water was a gravity-fed communal irrigation canal originating from the Rio Chama.

The adobe home that she fell in love with was only 12 miles from another home she had purchased in 1940 situated on 12 acres at Ghost Ranch.  She enjoyed painting and the surrounding cliffs and desert landscape there, but there were no water rights.  In 1945, she purchased the Abiquiu adobe built in the 1920s althiough I read the first room was probably built in 1744 and added on to thru the years. 

A quote from Georgia, "As I climbed and walked about in the ruin I found a patio with a very pretty well house and a bucket to draw up water. It was a good sized patio with a long wall with a door on one side. That wall with a door in it was something that I had to have." 

For the next four years, Georgia supervised every detail in its restoration from New York while her friend and architect, Maria Chabot, carried out the plans. In 1949 she finally made it her permanent  home and lived there until she left in 1984. In 1998 the O'Keefe home and studio was designated as a  National Historic Landmark and is now part of the Georgia O'Keefe Museum in Santa Fe.   

The first room we entered on the tour was the living space.  Her home reveals her commitment to design and the aesthetics of her surroundings.  

O'Keefe made her home distinctly modern with abundant natural light, updated amenities, (like a stereo with built in speakers as she had quite the music collection), and mid-century modern furniture. 

She built her own tables...one for the dining area, one in the kitchen and one in her studio.  All three table tops were were plywood.  The dining area  was small  and she made the table adjustable in size, by folding the "legs" narrow or wide.  

Dining room 

 

One side of the top folded over to make a skinny table when the legs were moved closer together. The hanging lantern was a gift from Isamu Noguchi Akari (an American artist and friend). This is the only lamp shade she had in her home.   

The kitchen was my favorite...

Our docent pointing out that all the white plywood cabinets were recessed/built-into the thick pueblo walls and took up no space in the kitchen.

She preferred to prepare her own meals.  Lunch salads were made daily using fresh picked  lettuce and veggies from her garden.  Dinner meals were wholesome...steamed veggies, soups, whole grains and fresh chicken...(maybe a secret to her longevity). 

The pantry is so organized
O'Keefe loved a good cup of coffee and tea. She often bought kettles/pots in search for the perfect maker. Also, she canned, pickled, and dried fruits and veggies. 

The kitchen door opens up to a courtyard with a rock path to the O'Keefe's studio. 

She had asked  Maria Chabot to design the studio and her only request was for natural light and that her bedroom be in the studio as well.  

The bed in this photo was not O'Keefes.  It was for an in-house caregiver who would spend the night after she lost her eyesight. The lounger was a Barwa lounger chaise...O'Keefe had three of them.  They were lightweight enough for her to use one in the courtyard for stargazing another to strap on the top of her car for camping trips and one in the living area to listern to classical music.  

Abstraction 
1916
White lacquered bronze
The first of three sculptures she produced in her career. 
A standing figure with its head bent forward, conveying a sorrowful or prayerful posture to commemorate the passing of her mother the same year.

Due to failing eyesight from Macular degeneration when O'Keefe  was 87 years old and could not paint unassisted, she turned to clay as a tactile medium that allowed her to create through touch.  

Her ceramic pieces were simple, untitled clay pots. This piece sits in the center of her studio table and was the first piece she made.

Abstraction Sculpture
Designed in 1946
White lacquered bronze
A spiral form that O'Keefe returned to throughout her career in a range of media including watercolor.

And last...it was definitely a wow moment walking into Georgia's bedroom.  

Maria Chabot's design features skylights and a wraparound corner window detailed to O'Keefe's preference for painting and living in abundant natural light. The walls featured a pigmented gray adobe plaster using a black dirt sourced form a friend's ranch in Las Vegas, New Mexico. 
Her bed was positioned to face the window on the other side of the room with room left for and easel and painting.  

We enjoyed this tour so much.  Our guide was knowledgeable and personable.  She entertained us with stories about Georgia O'Keefe and my favorite was about her dogs.  There is a photo of her grooming her Chow Chow dogs outside where she sits on a stump...thoise stumps are still in place.  She called them her "little people".  Bo and Chia were their names, but the funny part is nobody knows how many Bo's and Chia's she had.  If Bo died she got another male and named him Bo and if Chia died, she got another female and named her Chia.  No matter what you think of O'Keefe's art which I have never been a fan of abstract paintings, you have to say she was one hell of a woman!  

I'll close with a few or maybe a lot of photos...

A clean style eliminating visual clutter...

A work closet...

A painting from a photo taken thru her bedroom window

In her adult life she one pair of boots believed to be Redwing from the late 1920s. There is no record of the many times she had them resoled. 

The kitchen sofa

O'Keefe loved decorating with her rock collection

The patio gate with the people size door from inside 

Back at Belle...

Until next time, Happy Trails!

I am so far behind on posts.  We really enjoyed our time in Santa Fe and were quite busy there and I am not done with posts from "The City Different" yet.  So stay tuned...

(P.S. In real time we are in Dolores, CO)