There is exhibit of a couple of dozen Georgia O'Keeffe paintings coming to the at the Courtauld in London, the United Kingdom. It's called Georgia O'Keeffe: Ghost Ranch, referring to the vast ranch in the high plateau of New Mexico, north of Santa Fe. When she first visited the ranch in the 1930s she immediately felt an affinity that lasted for the rest of her life. She somehow convinced the owners to sell her a house in the midst of their property with spectacular views of the rugged landscape inspiring many works. Not only did she live a good part of each year at Ghost Ranch, her ashes are scattered there as well.
Ghost Ranch has been used for many films including the remake of 3:10 to Yuma, Oppenheimer, and City Slickers -- how's that for varied? I stayed at Ghost Ranch three times in years past because the working ranch was given to the Presbyterian church to be used as a conference and retreat centre. I loved it there.
One of those times I was at the isolated retreat house called Casa del Sol, essentially on my own. This building was once the home of the ranch manager and much the same as O'Keeffe's house a couple of kilometres away. So she would join the family for meals at times, sitting at the table which is still in Casa del Sol. The view to Padernal, depicted above, was similar from both houses but she would climb onto the manager's flat roof to capture the light.
Casa del Sol
I went for some of the same reasons O'Keefe did, the solitude and stark beauty. She wasn't a religious person but she understood the spiritual power of the landscape. I've written before that there is a Roman Catholic monastery and a Sufi retreat not far away. This is an auspicious place.and while I'm no painter I can appreciate why this setting captured her.
Just hearing about the exhibit makes me want to return.
Here is the link to a PBS documentary about O'Keeffe from 40 years ago where she does most of the talking.
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