A New York woman hid a $3,800 Georgia O’Keeffe in her closet for 40 years and only told her niece before she died, and now it could sell for millions
A Georgia O’Keeffe painting that spent roughly 40 years in a New York City closet is heading to auction at Christie’s, according to BroBible . The work is titled Near Abiquiu, New Mexico I , dates to 1930, and measures about 10 by 24 inches. Christie’s has scheduled the sale for November 17, and the painting is expected to bring in millions of dollars. The painting belonged to the aunt of the woman who discovered it, who received the piece as a graduation gift for her master’s degree in the 1960s. It was bought for $3,800 at the time. She displayed it for years, then boxed it up around the mid 1980s after noticing that someone at a bridge game kept looking at it a little too closely. The aunt reportedly told her niece, “Oh, by the way, there’s a Georgia O’Keeffe in the closet,” and the niece first heard about the painting in 2022. She did not see it until a few weeks ago. The aunt, who has since died, had a long Foreign Service career and was a highly ranked bridge player who lived in an East Village apartment, according to the auction house. Christie’s says an old
