Just as Donald Judd is the seminal American minimalist artist, Georgia O'Keeffe is one of America's first abstract or modern painters. Alfred Stieglitz discovered her abstract drawings in the early twentieth century and invited her to New York. The two lived together in New York city and summered at Lake George. O'Keefe, soon discovered the beauty or the American Southwest. Abiquiu, New Mexico became her home and the surrounding landscape was her subject matter.

I am currently visiting Abiquiu, her home/studio and some of the locations of O'Keeffe's paintings. The photograph depicts the adobe ruins of the Catholic church that the Spaniards built in Abiquiu in 1734. In the background, beyond the Chama River, one sees the brilliant white cliffs that O'Keeffe painted. Art and landscape as one.

Despite the aesthetic differences between Judd and O'Keeffe, both were drawn to the American Southwest and the landscape was integral to their finest work. Both Marfa and Abiquiu are remote and allowed the artists to focus on their craft. Both places provide windows into the respective world of artist - well worth the visit.