Meant to Be Broken
In honor of Frida Kahlo’s recent record-breaking sale, Director Cody Hartley looks back on O’Keeffe’s own record-breaking night.
In 2014, the auction of Georgia O’Keeffe’s Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1, 1932, made headlines for its sale of $44.4 million, as it more than tripled the previous record price for a female artist at the time. The work is an enlarged, swirling white flower and green leaves on a blue background and was purchased by Alice Walton for the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, where it still resides.
Left: Frida Kahlo’s El sueño (La cama), 1940. Courtesy of Sotheby’s. Right: Georgia O’Keeffe. Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1, 1932. Oil on canvas, 48 x 40 inches. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum
On November 20, 2025, Mexican painter Frida Kahlo finally surpassed Jimson Weed’s record when El sueño (La cama) sold at auction for $54.7 million.
The painting is a self-portrait of Kahlo who lays under a yellow ochre blanket wrapped with vines while a skeletal figure floats above the artist. Sotheby’s called the work a “deeply introspective self-portrait that bridges personal symbolism, Mexican cultural iconography, and Surrealism.”
With Kahlo now atop the record books for female artists, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum Director Cody Hartley reflects on the night of Jimson Weed’s sale a little more than 10 years ago. Hartley, who was the Museum’s Director of Curatorial Affairs in 2014, had a sky-box seat to the bidding war that crowned Jimson Weed as the most expensive painting by a woman artist sold at that time.
Georgia O’Keeffe Museum: Prior to the Kahlo auction, there were global headlines expecting the piece to “shatter” O’Keeffe’s record. What do you remember about the attention in the weeks before the Jimson Weed auction?
Cody Hartley: Jimson Weed had its share of buzz as well. Sotheby’s had done its part in promoting the auction, and the piece had toured with stops in Hong Kong, Houston, New York, and San Francisco. However, in 2014, there wasn’t a lot of talk about the record. We knew it could break the record, but that wasn’t the focus of conversations or headlines.
As I spoke with Elizabeth Goldberg, the director of American Art at the time for Sotheby’s, and Nina del Rio, who was the Director of Museum, Private, and Corporate Art Services at Sotheby’s, we were managing our expectations. The estimated price was between $10–$15 million, and the record for a Georgia O’Keeffe work at the time was just over $8 million. So, we thought if we could double that record at $16 million, that would be amazing.
GOKM: Tell us what the room and the atmosphere was like at the auction.
CH: The Museum’s group was in a private suite overlooking the auction room. It was a busy week prior with quick decision-making and last-minute requests. An enormous number of details were being worked through, so when we were finally in the suite, waiting for our turn, the anticipation had morphed into near exhaustion. There was a lot of sitting and waiting.
When Jimson Weed came up, I remember the bids were methodical but also irregular. The first bids came in quickly and then as the price climbed, the intensity built, and number of bidders slowed. There were bidders’ representatives on different sides of the room, so you could see everyone’s eyes moving from one side to the other, like a tennis match.
Finally, there was a representative on the phone with a buyer who was on the clock. The auctioneer kept asking for the next bid and finally the rep asked, “May I have a minute?”
To that the auctioneer said, “I think we can all use a minute.” The room got a good laugh and he was right. After a short break, the bidding crossed $40 million.
GOKM: What were your thoughts as you watched the price go higher and higher?
CH: Everyone was shocked. The suite was shocked, the room was shocked, the world was shocked. The highest I had allowed myself to imagine was $20 million, and when the bids passed that mark, I fell back in my chair. It was very exciting and fun after a long week.
GOKM: When the gavel hit, what went through your mind?
CH: It was hard to comprehend because I hadn’t even dreamed of a price that high. After the auction, there was a huge influx of questions from reporters at the biggest media outlets in the world. That is when I realized the magnitude of the achievement and that I was part of something truly historic. It would be one of the most significant accomplishments of my entire career. It’s a night I will never forget.
GOKM: The funds from the sale created the Museum’s acquisition fund, which allows for purchases for the collection. What are some of the works in the Museum’s collection now that are a direct result of the Jimson Weed sale?
CH: Our collection has grown in so many ways, allowing for richer storytelling of O’Keeffe’s life and career. The first purchase was The Barns, Lake George, 1926. Others like Ritz Tower, 1928, Pink Tulip, 1925, Black Cross with Stars and Blue, 1929, and works on paper have all entered our collection and been shown at the Museum thanks in large part to that very special night in 2014.
GOKM: Lastly, we can’t let this moment go by without recognizing that this record is for female artists. The record for auction price for a work by a male artist (Leonardo da Vinci, Salvator Mundi (Savior of the World), c. 1500 at $450 million) is much higher as are general prices for artworks by male artists. Just prior to the Kahlo auction, a Gustav Klimt sold for more than $200 million. What are your thoughts on the large gap between prices for male and female artists?
CH: Kahlo’s new record highlights both how far we’ve come in recognizing women’s contributions to art—and how much further we must go to create true equity in the art world. I’m looking forward to the day when all female artists’ work is recognized and valued on the same level as their male counterparts.
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Seeing Double
While Jimson Weed in the permanent collection of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, you can see a similar painting, Bella Donna, in the galleries in Santa Fe. The image features two large, white flowers, one atop the other, and can be seen in the Video Room.
