Black Iris Auction History

Georgia O’Keeffe retained Black Iris from its creation in 1926, exhibiting it at the Intimate Gallery (1927) and An American Place (1933) [2]. From 1949 to 1969 the painting was on extended loan to The Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of the Alfred Stieglitz Collection [2].

In 1969 O’Keeffe gifted the work to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, where it remains in the collection (accession 69.278.1; credit line: Alfred Stieglitz Collection, 1969) [1]. The museum later standardized the title to Black Iris in 1991 [2].

There is no public sale history for Georgia O’Keeffe’s Black Iris (1926); the artist retained the work and ultimately gifted it to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1969, following a long-term loan [1][2]. As a result, the painting’s market impact is indirect: it anchors scholarship and public awareness of O’Keeffe’s iris motif from a leading museum platform, while comparable flower canvases set price benchmarks at auction.

O’Keeffe’s large-scale flower paintings have achieved some of the artist’s highest prices. The record remains Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 (1932), sold for $44.4 million in 2014 [3]. More recently, related blooms have sustained strong demand: White Rose with Larkspur No. I (1927) realized $26,725,000 in the Paul G. Allen Collection sale (2022) [5]; Black Iris VI (1936), a closely related work in the iris series, fetched $21,110,000 in 2023 [4]; and Red Poppy (1928) sold for $16.5 million with fees in 2024 [6]. These results illustrate robust appetite for iconic floral subjects, especially in larger, well-preserved canvases with strong provenance.

The museum-held status of the 1926 Black Iris removes one of the most canonical examples from the market, constraining supply and focusing collector competition on comparable works when they appear. Its long association with the Alfred Stieglitz Collection at The Met and the 1991 title standardization further consolidate the painting’s scholarly and curatorial authority, reinforcing the motif’s significance and, by extension, the value framework for similar O’Keeffe flower paintings offered at auction [1][2].