Georgia O'Keefe; The 44.4 Million Bargain

A Georgia O'Keeffe painting has sold for $44.4 million, more than triple the previous auction record for a work by a female artist.

Sotheby's New York sold the 1932 painting, "Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1," during the auction house's sale of American art. Sold by the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico, to benefit its acquisitions fund to undisclosed buyer. Previous Auction record by a female artist was $11.9 million for Joan Mitchell's.

For context, the current record for the most expensive work by a male artist, and the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction, is $142.4 million for Francis Bacon’s Three Studies of Lucian Freud (1969), sold at Christie’s in 2013.