O’Keeffe ‘White Calla Lily’ on offer at Sotheby’s American sale
Detail of White Calla Lily by Georgia O Keefe. Image courtesy of Sotheby's
Georgia O’Keeffe’s White Calla Lily is to be on offer at Sotheby’s upcoming American art auction, which is to take place in New York on 20 May. Experts have speculated that the work by the American painter may break the record for the highest price fetched by a female artist at auction.
The painting is estimated to fetch $8 – 12 million, far below the current record of $44.4 million, however given that the current record is held by O’Keeffe’s Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1, which fetched three times more than its $15 million estimate, it is possible that White Calla Lily may see similar success. Even if the piece fetches its high-end estimate of $12 million it will become the second most expensive lot by a female artist, beating Joan Mitchell’s untitled 1960 canvas which sold for $11.9 at Christie’s in May of last year.
Born in 1887 in Wisconsin, USA, Georgia O’Keeffe is one of the most important and prolific American artists of the 20th century. Best known for her highly sensual depictions of flowers, the artist created White Calla Lily in 1927, the painting remaining in her possession until her death in 1986, before spending more than two decades in a private collection.