According to the director of an Iowa library that owns two Grant Wood paintings housed at a local museum, there’s an increasing appetite for works by American artist Grant Wood. She says she just turned down an offer of $6m for one of the paintings. Here’s the Associated Press story:

Library Director Susan Henricks said she receives a couple of calls a year with offers to buy “Appraisal,” which depicts a farm woman selling a chicken to a wealthy woman from the city.

The most recent offer for the work came from the John H. Surovek Gallery in Palm Beach, Florida, on behalf of an unidentified client.

“Six million is a lot of money,” said Henricks, who estimated that is equal to two years of the library’s budget. “But is it worth it to let a treasure like that go?” […]

The library’s two paintings by Wood — “Appraisal,” which was the subject of the offer, and “Victorian Survival” — are on loan to the Dubuque Museum of Art. The library acquired both in the 1930s for a total of $1,150 with funds that were left to it for purchasing art.

Iowa library says it’s not selling its Grant Wood painting, despite $6 million offer (Omaha.com: Iowa)