Georgia O'Keeffe masterpiece set for Tate exhibition
A Georgia O'Keeffe work, considered the most expensive painting by a woman, will be the centrepiece of a Tate exhibition celebrating the US artist.
O'Keeffe's Jimson Weed, White Flower No. 1 has been loaned to Tate Modern by a US gallery. The painting broke records when it sold in 2014 at Sotheby's in New York for $44.4m (£28.8m). The white flower painting is said by the Tate to show "all the expected characteristics" of O'Keeffe's work. O'Keeffe, who died in 1986 at the age of 98, has become one of the most famous female artists through her trademark nature painting, particularly those of flowers. The Jimson weed bloom is native to New Mexico, where O'Keeffe had a home. She grew fond of the plant and allowed it to grow unchecked in her garden. The Wisconsin native went on to make it the subject of multiple works, each showing it in a different way. Tate Modern said the work was a "particularly striking example" because of its "frontal perspective... and symmetry". The work is normally housed in the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas. "We are delighted to be showing this iconic work by O'Keeffe for the first time in the UK for over 20 years," said Achim Borchardt-Hume, the Tate's director of exhibitions. "What better moment to celebrate her influential career than 100 years after her debut." The 1932 painting was bought by Walmart heiress Alice Walton in 2014, who put it on display at the Crystal Bridges Museum, which she founded. The previous record sale price for a work by a female artist was held by Joan Mitchell's Untitled, which sold for £7.5m in New York, also in 2014. More than 100 examples of O'Keeffe's work, spanning a period from 1915 until the 1960s, will be displayed in 13 rooms at Tate Modern from July to October. It will be the first major exhibition to open following the unveiling of its £260m revamp in June.