Georgia O’Keeffe’s "Jimson Weed/White Flower No.1" (1932) fetched $44.4 million at the $75.4 million American Art sale on Thursday at Sotheby’s, catapulting far above the previous record for the most expensive art work by a woman artist ever sold at auction.

An unnamed telephone bidder won the O'Keeffe after competition among seven bidders. The previous record for a work by a female artist was set in May 2014 by Joan Mitchell’s $11.9 million Untitled (1960) at Christie’s. "Jimson Weed" brought seven times O'Keeffe's previous highest price of $6.2 million.

The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe sold the work to boost acquisition funds. Besides "Jimson Weed," the museum deaccessioned “On the Old Santa Fe Road” and “Untitled (Skunk Cabbage)." The star, "Jimson Weed," was estimated to bring $10 million to $15 million, and went on to quadruple the low end estimate.

"Jimson Weed" represents one of O'Keeffe's favorite subjects, a magnified flower. The artist explained her fascination: “When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else. Most people in the city rush around so, they have no time to look at a flower. I want them to see it whether they want to or not."