Underneath A Pile Of Fur Coats, She Uncovered A Long-Lost Painting From Georgia O'Keeffe In Her Aunt's Closet

A woman's closet is far more than a collection of clothing; it serves as an archive of her memories, history, and identity. While a woman named Betsy (she asked to be called by her middle name to protect her identity) was cleaning out the closet of her elderly aunt's apartment in the East Village of New York City earlier in the year, she made an incredible discovery.

You see, Betsy was there with her aunt to get the apartment clean and ready for home health aides to come in back in 2022. While organizing, Betsy's aunt casually remarked, "Oh, by the way, there's a Georgia O'Keeffe in the closet."

Now, Betsy was aware that her aunt was a collector of artwork, but she couldn't believe there was a painting from such a celebrated artist sitting right there in the front closet.

Betsy and her family, who don't want to name her aunt in order to preserve her anonymity, characterized her as strong, brave, independent, beyond intelligent, worldly, and sophisticated.

Betsy's aunt lived one amazing life. She was fluent in four languages, graduated from multiple prestigious colleges, obtained the highest-ranking Civil Service Exam score when she took it, traveled the globe as part of the U.S. Foreign Service, and was not only a master of bridge, but world-ranked.

"Her niece dug through the front closet, where, behind dozens of coats, she found an old wooden box. Inside was the 10-inch x 24-inch work Near Abiquiu, New Mexico I, with the artist's “OK” signature on the original backboard," Christie's explained in a press release.

"It turned out the work had been a graduation gift to the owner when she earned her master's degree in the 1960s. Her mother purchased the painting for $3,800 on April 15, 1963, at The Downtown Gallery on 51st Street, O'Keeffe's dealer in Manhattan."

Georgia O'Keeffe snapped a photo of the painting in 1931, which is the only reason why people knew it existed in the first place. The painting, an oil on canvas, depicts a panoramic, abstract view of Lobo Peak, a scenic mountain in Carson National Forest.

It's actually part of a series of three paintings Georgia O'Keeffe created early on in her career. The second one belongs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the final piece is part of a private collection.

Slava_Vladzimirska - stock.adobe.com - illustrative purposes only, not the actual person - pictured above is a woman in a fur coat

"After she received the work as a gift, the woman hung it in her East Village apartment until the mid-1980s, when her family said their fiercely private aunt got nervous that a guest was 'eyeing it a bit too closely' during a bridge game," Christie's added.

"She decided to place it back in its original box and store it safely in the closet, where it sat, in its original packing from the gallery, unknown to the rest of her family until she revealed its existence to her niece earlier this year. The woman passed away shortly afterward. Her niece sent photos of the work to Christie's via email."

This find of a lifetime will be headed to Christie's to be auctioned off and is valued at $3 to $5 million dollars. Right now, the "long-lost" painting is on display for the first time in decades at an exhibition at 20 Rockefeller Center. It's free to see it and will be there until November 17th.

You can see a photo of the painting here.