Challenges Facing the Preservation of Georgia O’Keeffe’s Historic Home & Studio

Beginning in August 2018, the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum began a comprehensive, 18-month-long conservation assessment of O’Keeffe’s historic Home and Studio in Abiquiú, New Mexico. To determine the condition and preservation risks of the site and structures, a team combined research from historic documents and photographs with scientific analyses and a detailed analysis of the environmental history of the site. Combined with a layered understanding of the historic and artistic significance of the Home and Studio, and the many changes O’Keeffe made in the property between 1946 and her death, in 1986, the assessment has resulted in a clear understanding of the challenges the Museum faces in meeting its long-term goal of preserving and sharing this critical example of O’Keeffe’s creative vision and unique modernist achievement.

Learn more about O’Keeffe’s Home and Studio in Abiquiú

Read an overview of O’Keeffe’s homes in Northern New Mexico
Browse images from the Museum’s archives published on Collections Online
Watch plants grow using the Abiquiú Garden Webcam
Read Georgia O’Keeffe and Her Houses by Barbara Buhler Lynes and Agapita Judy Lopez

This lecture with Dale Kronkright, Head of Conservation at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, was recorded on May 6, 2020 as part of the Museum’s Mornings with O’Keeffe series.