Painted in 1930, Near Abiquiu, New Mexico depicts Lobo Peak and was made a year after Georgia O’Keeffe first visited New Mexico, according to Hyperallergic. The outlet says the rediscovered work is likely one of three versions of the view: another is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, while a third is in a private collection and once belonged to David and Peggy Rockefeller.
Auction and market
Christie’s has scheduled the painting for its 20th Century Evening sale on November 17 and estimates it at about $3 million, the New York Post reported. The work is due to be shown free to the public at 20 Rockefeller Center from November 7 through November 17. The Post also reported that some sale proceeds will go to Betsy and other relatives, with a portion designated for an educational institution.
Recent Christie’s sales provide a measure of demand for O’Keeffe’s work: Red Canna sold for $2,833,000 and Landscape—Lake George, N.Y. for $1,134,000 in the auction house’s Modern American Art sale on April 17, 2025. Christie’s also estimated The Red Maple at Lake George at $10 million to $15 million ahead of its November 17, 2025 sale, according to the auction house’s “10 things to know about Georgia O’Keeffe”.
The painting’s family history
The Post reported that the painting entered the family when Betsy’s mother bought it for $3,800 on April 15, 1963, from the Downtown Gallery in Manhattan, then O’Keeffe’s dealer. The work was later given to Betsy’s aunt as a graduation present in the 1960s. It hung in the aunt’s apartment until the 1980s, when she put it away after a visitor seemed to be examining it closely, according to the same report.
In 2022, Betsy, a 65-year-old Rhode Island resident who uses her middle name, was helping her aunt prepare the East Village apartment for home health aides when her aunt first mentioned the painting, the Post reported. Betsy pulled the painting from the closet only a few weeks before the Post’s November 5, 2026 publication, while preparing her aunt for hospice. It had been stored beneath fur coats in its original box. The canvas measures 10 by 24 inches; O’Keeffe’s star-shaped signature is on the work, and the box appears to bear writing by Alfred Stieglitz, her husband and promoter, according to the report.
Betsy’s aunt died at 98 shortly after the discovery, the Post reported. She had never married or had children. The outlet also reported that she achieved the highest score on the civil service exam at the time, spoke at least four languages, and was a world-ranked bridge master.
