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Georgia O'Keeffe painted ‘Grey Hills Painted Red, New Mexico’ in 1930.

Donor surprises Florida museum with an O’Keeffe

Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf
Georgia O'Keeffe painted ‘Grey Hills Painted Red, New Mexico’ in 1930.
Georgia O’Keeffe painted ‘Grey Hills Painted Red, New Mexico’ in 1930.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) – An anonymous donor has surprised a Florida museum with a valuable gift: a Georgia O’Keeffe painting.

Grey Hills Painted Red, New Mexico was hung on a gallery wall at the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg on Tuesday.

Museum director John Schloder told the St. Petersburg Times a woman called and asked if the museum wanted to see her O’Keeffe painting, and things progressed from there.

The donor doesn’t want to be named, but she told Schloder she loves visiting the museum and wanted it to have her O’Keefe.

The painting from 1930 has been owned by several private collectors. During its distinguished history Grey Hills Painted Red, New Mexico has been shown at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, among other museums.

Schloder said the museum never could have afforded it. O’Keeffe’s paintings from that era have sold in recent years for anywhere from $2 million to $6 million.

It joins two other major paintings by O’Keeffe at the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg: her White Abstraction (Madison Avenue), 1926, and her brilliant Poppy (1927). Both of these works have been part of major exhibitions and have been widely published. Now with Grey Hills Painted Red, New Mexico, the museum has a trio of O’Keeffe paintings from one of the most productive and innovative periods in her career. O’Keeffe also painted the frame. A grouping of such significant O’Keeffe works is a rarity for a Florida museum.

The MFA is located at 255 Beach Drive, on the downtown waterfront. The comprehensive collection of approximately 15,000 objects includes important works by Monet, Gauguin, Renoir, Morisot, Cézanne, Rodin, Bourdelle, Hassam, Henri, Bellows, O’Keeffe and Andrew Wyeth. The museum’s photography holdings are highly regarded. The MFA has been repeatedly named the area’s best museum by Tampa Bay Magazine, Creative Loafing and Tampa Bay metro.

Hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday.

Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-ES-05-18-10 1651EDT

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

Exhibition tags abound on the back of O’Keeffe’s ‘Grey Hills, Painted Red, New Mexico.’
Exhibition tags abound on the back of O’Keeffe’s ‘Grey Hills, Painted Red, New Mexico.’