When Georgia met Albert

The great early modern art collector Dr. Albert C. Barnes bought two of Georgia O’Keeffe’s paintings — but then returned them.

According to the Barnes Collection blog:

“In a letter dated December 19, 1930, Barnes explains to O’Keeffe that he will be returning them to her, saying,

‘I gave the two paintings as fair a trial as I ever gave to newcomers in the collection. I tried them in every conceivable kind of company and I continued to do that for a period of six months. It did not turn out as I hoped and I took the pictures down early in September. I am deeply and sincerely sorry not only that I couldn’t fit the pictures in the collection but that I should have to tell you about it.’

The details:

Click here to see the digitized original letters.