Santa Fe, New Mexico

Once upon a time, Santa Fe functioned as a gateway to the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where science was turned to its most destructive uses in order to end a war. Today, Santa Fe hosts scientific meetings and lectures galore. Still, if there is one thing you’ll remember the city for, it probably won’t be its science, but its art.

A host of artists and writers have found inspiration in Santa Fe. For some of them, the area served the dual role of home and muse. Georgia O’Keeffe lived in and near Santa Fe during the closing years of her life. She made her homes in Abiquiú and on Ghost Ranch, painting what she saw and imagined, or some combination of the two. Renowned author Cormac McCarthy has filled his novels with Santa Fe’s landscapes and language.

But the art of Santa Fe isn’t limited to a few illustrious names. Local talent has filled Santa Fe with creative energy and work, especially Canyon Road, which hundreds of artists have made their studio. The city’s architecture, with its mingling of styles, has its own story to tell, perhaps most emphatically on the Santa Fe Plaza – the old town square.

Santa Fe’s museums display the enduring power of art to preserve in collective consciousness cultures now all but vanished in fact. They speak of immortality on a human scale, of an element of a fragile life that can be passed on and on and on.

Worth Checking Out

• Santa Fe Plaza
• Georgia O’Keeffe Museum
• Museum of Indian Arts and Culture
• Canyon Road
• The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi