Museum, college tangle over O'Keeffe work

SANTA FE, N.M., March 21 (UPI) -- A Tennessee school has been offered up to $25 million for a Georgia O'Keeffe work, but the O'Keeffe museum in New Mexico warns against spending the money.

Saul Cohen, board president of the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, said Fisk University in Nashville cannot sell "Radiator Building -- Night, New York" under the terms laid out when the artist donated the piece, which barred the painting's sale, the Santa Fe New Mexican said Wednesday.

Cohen said he hopes the school's trustees will follow through on an agreement reached earlier this year in which the museum would give the school $7 million in exchange for the painting. The college is looking to divest itself of the painting, along with one by Marsden Hartley, to raise money for campus improvements.

A Santa Fe art dealer offered to pay $20 million for the O'Keeffe piece on behalf of a client, while another proposal came from an unnamed individual who offered to buy it for $25 million and place it on long-term loan to the museum, the report said.

"Everyone has always known the painting was very valuable," Cohen said, "but that doesn't mean anything in the real-world sense."