How did Georgia O’Keeffe manage the sale and ownership of her artwork after Alfred Stieglitz died?

Following the death of Alfred Stieglitz in 1946, Georgia O’Keeffe took full control of her career, applying the management lessons she had learned from him to maintain her professional success.1

Rather than relying on a single dealer, she utilized various agents to sell her work while actively participating in her own market to stimulate demand and uphold high price points. A key component of her strategy involved buying back many of her own paintings at auction or from private collectors, which she viewed as essential to her artistic legacy.1

By the time of her death, O’Keeffe had retained ownership of nearly half of her total output, an estate valued at over $70 million. She also exercised careful control over how her work was interpreted by intentionally limiting the public display of her early abstractions for several decades, only to reintroduce them later in her career when they could be exhibited alongside her later works to critical acclaim.1