the phillips collection to deaccession georgia okeeffe arthur dove georges seurat 1234761918

The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., is proceeding with plans to sell major works by Georgia O’Keeffe, Arthur Dove, and Georges Seurat at Sotheby’s next week, despite sharp backlash from former curators, members of the Phillips family, and a faction of the museum’s non-governing members body. The works—including O’Keeffe’s *Large Dark Red Leaves on White* (1925, est. $6–8 million), Seurat’s conté crayon drawing ($3–5 million), and Dove’s *Rose and Locust Stump* (1943, est. $1.2–1.8 million)—will be offered in Sotheby’s marquee evening sales on November 20 at its new Breuer building headquarters. Additional works by Anish Kapoor, Leland Bell, Howard Mehring, Henri Fantin-Latour, Picasso, and Milton Avery will also be sold in surrounding sales. Director and CEO Jonathan Binstock, who joined in March 2023, says proceeds will fund a permanently restricted endowment for commissioning new work by living artists, acquisitions, and collection care, aligning with founder Duncan Phillips’s support for contemporary practitioners.