Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 Auction History

1932–33: Painted by Georgia O’Keeffe (CR no. 815) and exhibited at An American Place, New York, in 1933. [1][3]

By 1966: In the collection of the artist’s sister, Anita O’Keeffe Young; by 1985 with her Estate and the Robert R. Young Foundation. Sold at Sotheby’s New York on Dec 3, 1987 (lot 7) to dealers Gerald and Kathleen Peters; reported price $990,000. Again at Sotheby’s on Dec 1, 1994 (lot 83), to a private Santa Fe collection; reported price $1,047,500. [1][4]

1996: With The Burnett Foundation, which gifted the painting to the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe. Deaccessioned and sold at Sotheby’s on Nov 20, 2014, then acquired by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (accession 2014.35). [1][3][5][2]

Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 is the keystone of Georgia O’Keeffe’s auction market. When the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum deaccessioned the work in 2014 to fund future acquisitions, it sold at Sotheby’s for $44,405,000 with premium—far above its $10–15 million estimate—and set a then-world auction record for any work by a woman artist, as well as O’Keeffe’s personal auction record. [5][1][6][4] The painting’s combination of subject, scale (oil on canvas, 48 x 40 in.), and art-historical prominence helped drive exceptional competition, with the result ultimately secured by an institutional buyer. [1][2]

That 2014 price remains the benchmark for O’Keeffe and has not been approached by later marquee sales of her flower paintings. Notable comparables include White Rose with Larkspur No. 1 at $26,725,000 in 2022, Black Iris VI at $21,110,000 in 2023, and White Calico Rose at $13,060,000 in 2023—each underscoring how singular Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 is within her market. [7][8][9] The record was also historically significant beyond O’Keeffe: it stood as the highest auction price for a woman artist until Frida Kahlo’s The Dream (The Bed) reached $54.7 million in 2025. [10]

Provenance and visibility further enhance the work’s stature. Its early exhibition at An American Place connects it directly to O’Keeffe’s modernist milieu; later, an extended White House loan from 2002 to 2008 amplified public recognition. [1] The 2014 deaccession by the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum—an institution devoted to the artist—contributed to buyer confidence by providing clear title and museum-level documentation. [5] Today, its placement at Crystal Bridges solidifies the painting’s institutional standing and reduces the likelihood of near-term reappearance on the market, reinforcing the 2014 result as a durable reference point for O’Keeffe valuations. [2]