Fisk University has been unable to find a donor willing to buy a valuable painting by Georgia O’Keeffe but to allow the financially troubled university to continue to display the work, which the artist herself gave to Fisk in the 1940s. Under an agreement reached last month, the university faced a deadline of Sunday for finding a donor.

In the absence of a donor, Fisk will be forced to sell the painting to the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, an institution in New Mexico, for just $7-million. Fisk would prefer to sell the painting on the open market, where it might fetch $20-million, but the museum had sued to block such a sale as a violation of the terms of O’Keeffe’s gift.

Under the agreement, brokered by Tennessee’s attorney general, Robert E. Cooper Jr., Fisk had 30 days to raise the estimated $16-million that the painting was thought to be worth at the time. As of Sunday, Fisk was unable to raise the funds, but it did receive offers starting at $20-million to buy the painting outright.

Fisk is now asking the attorney general whether the agreement can be reworked to allow such a sale. A decision by Mr. Cooper is expected this week.