When Georgia O'Keeffe's painting Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 (1932) sold at Sotheby's last week for $44.4 million, tripling its high estimate of $15 million, it became the most expensive painting by a female artist sold at auction. The record was previously held by Joan Mitchell, for Untitled, which sold for $11.9 million, and was set earlier this year at Christie's New York in May 2014 (see "O'Keeffe Painting Sells for $44 Million at Sotheby's, Sets Record for Work by Female Artist.")
The sales of the Mitchell and O'Keeffe paintings were among several notable sales this year of work by female artists, including Cindy Sherman, Yayoi Kusama, and Barbara Hepworth. Although we recently had a piece on living artists (see "Who Are the Top 10 Most Expensive Living Women Artists?"), with all the recent movement among female artists at the auctions, whether living or dead, we think it's a good time to look at the top 10.
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