O'Keeffe painting sells in NYC for $44.4M, triple the previous record for a female artist

A Georgia O'Keeffe painting of a simple white flower has sold for $44.4 million, more than triple the previous auction record for a work by a female artist.

Sotheby's New York says the 1932 painting, "Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1," sold Thursday during the auction house's sale of American art.

The painting was sold by the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico, to benefit its acquisitions fund. The buyer bid by telephone. Sotheby's isn't disclosing the buyer's identity.

The previous world auction record for any work by a female artist was $11.9 million. That was the price for Joan Mitchell's "Untitled" at Christie's New York in May.

The previous auction record for an O'Keeffe work was $6.2 million, set at Christie's New York in 2001.