Cow’s Skull: Red, White, and Blue Auction History

1931–1949: Retained by Georgia O’Keeffe; exhibited at An American Place (Dec 27, 1931–Feb 11, 1932) [2][3].

1949–1952: Extended loan by the artist to The Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of the developing Alfred Stieglitz Collection [3].

1952–present: Gift of the artist to The Met; accession 52.203, credit line Alfred Stieglitz Collection, 1952 [1][4].

This painting has no public auction or private-sale record: O’Keeffe retained it until 1949, when she placed it on extended loan to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and she gifted it to the museum in 1952 as part of the Alfred Stieglitz Collection [3][1][4]. Consequently, the work has never served as a price benchmark; its stature is evidenced instead by its continuous presence in The Met’s collection and publications, and by its regular display (listed on view in Gallery 757 as of July 2026) [1][4].

To understand the broader market for O’Keeffe, top auction results indicate demand for rare, emblematic works. Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 (1932) achieved $44,405,000 at Sotheby’s New York in 2014; White Rose with Larkspur No. I (1927) realized $26,725,000 in the Paul G. Allen Collection sale at Christie’s in 2022; and A Street (1926) sold for $13,300,000 at Sotheby’s in 2018 [5][6][7]. While these are not direct comparables for a canonical, museum-held skull painting, they frame the upper tier of O’Keeffe valuations and underscore how rarity and subject matter drive outcomes.

Cow’s Skull: Red, White, and Blue is a cornerstone of O’Keeffe’s early 1930s New Mexico imagery, first shown at Stieglitz’s An American Place in late 1931 and early 1932 [2][3]. Its catalogue raisonné placement (CR 773) and the Met’s long-standing credit line confirm its status as an icon of American modernism within an institutional setting [3][1][4]. Because works of this caliber are typically retained by museums, close substitutes seldom appear at auction; market interest around O’Keeffe’s skull motif is therefore measured indirectly—through the performance of other celebrated canvases and through sustained scholarly attention—rather than through transactions involving this specific painting [5][1].