Georgia O’Keeffe’s Santa Fe Home, Visited by the Dalai Lama and Later Owned by Paul Allen, Is for Sale for $15 Million. The property houses a Bodhi tree grown from a seed given by the Dalai Lama.
After hitting the market in 2021 for $22.6 million, the New Mexico home of artist Georgia O’Keeffe, later bought by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, has now shaved its price to $15 million. It’s the latest attempt to offload Allen’s vast estate, said to be worth $20 billion, since he died in 2018.
Located three miles outside of Santa Fe, the adobe structure known as Sol Y Sombra was the final residence of O’Keeffe. The American modernist lived there until her death in 1986 at the age of 98. Later, the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum was established in Santa Fe.
Allen, who died in 2018 at age 65, bought the 20-acre property in 2000, according to The Wall Street Journal. The final sale price was not disclosed; however, its list price at the time was $12.2 million.
In addition to Allen cactus collection, the greenhouse holds a Bodhi tree grown from a seed given by the Dalai Lama after visiting the property. According to the listing, that seed traces back to the tree that Buddha himself sat under ca. 500 B.C.E. to attain enlightenment.
The Houses of Georgia O’Keeffe
Georgia O’Keeffe lived in several houses during her time in New Mexico. The one most closely associated with her is the house in Abiquiú, a small town located about an hour’s drive north of Santa Fe.
This house was originally built in the 1730s as a Spanish colonial hacienda, and was later expanded over the years. O’Keeffe first saw the house in 1945, and was immediately taken with its rugged beauty and the surrounding landscape. She eventually purchased the house in 1949, and spent the rest of her life there, using it as a retreat from the outside world.
O’Keeffe made many renovations to the house over the years, including adding a studio and a patio. She also painted many of her most famous works in and around the house, including several pieces inspired by the nearby Pedernal mountain.
Georgia O’Keeffe’s Santa Fe Home is now owned by the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum and is open to the public for guided tours. Visitors can see the house much as O’Keeffe left it, with many of her personal belongings still in place, including furniture, tools, and art supplies. The house and surrounding property have been carefully preserved to reflect the way O’Keeffe lived and worked there, providing a unique glimpse into the life of one of America’s most famous artists.
Other artists that were drawn to new mexico
New Mexico has long been a popular destination for artists seeking inspiration and a new way of life. Here are a few other notable artists who were drawn to the region:
- Agnes Martin: Martin was a Canadian-American abstract painter who settled in New Mexico in 1967. She lived in a remote adobe house in the desert outside of Cuba, New Mexico, where she created some of her most iconic works, which were characterized by their spare, geometric forms and delicate lines.
- Fritz Scholder: Scholder was a Native American artist who moved to Santa Fe in the 1960s. He was known for his bold, colorful paintings that combined traditional Native American imagery with contemporary art styles. He was one of the first Native American artists to gain widespread recognition in the mainstream art world.
- Elaine de Kooning: De Kooning was an American abstract expressionist painter who spent time in Taos, New Mexico in the 1950s and 1960s. She was drawn to the region for its dramatic landscapes and the vibrant artistic community that had developed there.
- Bert Geer Phillips and Ernest L. Blumenschein: Phillips and Blumenschein were two American painters who co-founded the Taos Society of Artists in 1915. They were both drawn to the region for its natural beauty and the rich cultural heritage of the local Native American and Hispanic communities.
- Rebecca Salsbury James: James was a Canadian-American painter and writer who settled in Taos in the 1920s. She was friends with many of the other artists who lived in the area at the time, including Georgia O’Keeffe and Mabel Dodge Luhan. James was known for her colorful, impressionistic paintings of the Taos landscape and its people.