Georgia O`Keeffe painting sets record for any female artist

New York: A painting by late American artist Georgia O`Keeffe sold for more than $44.4 million in New York on Thursday, which Sotheby`s called a new auction world record for any female artist.

Sotheby`s said the previous auction record for a work by a female artist was $11.9 million, set by US abstract painter Joan Mitchell`s ‘Untitled’ at rival house Christie`s in New York in May.

The O`Keefe work had been valued before the sale at $15 million but Sotheby`s said it was driven to more than $44.4 million by a prolonged battle between two determined bidders.

O`Keeffe is considered one of the most significant artists of the 20th century and was a prominent avant-garde artist in New York.

She spent much of her life in New Mexico and died in 1986. The previous auction record for one of her works was $6.2 million.O`Keeffe was celebrated for her flower paintings.

Her ‘Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1’ oil on canvas was one of three works offered at auction by the Georgia O`Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico.