$315.9 Million Adds Up to Sotheby’s Best-Ever Sale

Mark Rothko
"Untitled"
$12,081,000
Est. $12–18 million

This work is one of many Rothkos that have come up for auction in the wake of the dramatic sale of “White Center (Yellow, Pink, and Lavender on Rose)” from 1950, which set a record for postwar art at $72.8 million last season when it was consigned by collector David Rockefeller. At Christie's on Tuesday night, a 1955 painting by Rothko brought in $34.2 million.

This untitled work in brooding black and gray dates from 1969, the year before the painter committed suicide. The painting sold 11 years ago at Christie's New York for $800,000. Last night it sold to a blond woman seated in the third row for substantially more.

Courtesy Sotheby's