New York, Nov 21 (IANS/EFE): American Georgia O'Keeffe's "Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1" has been sold at a Sotheby's auction in New York for $44.4 million, a new record for a female artist.

The iconic work by the Wisconsin native (1887-1986), considered one of the greatest painters of the 20th century, had been valued before the auction at $15 million but competition among seven buyers drove up the price.

The sale price easily smashed the previous female auction record of $11.9 million for an untitled abstract by American abstract expressionist Joan Mitchell.

The "Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1" oil on canvas was one of three paintings from the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico -- the artist's place of death -- that were put up for auction Thursday.

The auction record for a male painter is Irish-born British artist Francis Bacon's "Three Studies of Lucian Freud", which sold last year for $142.4 million.