Mark Rothko Painting Sold for $85.8 Million at Sotheby’s Auction 0 14

The most expensive lot was Mark Rothko's painting "Brown and Blacks in Reds" (1957) from the collection of art dealer Robert Mnuchin, which sold for $85.8 million. Thus, the work ranked second among the most expensive pieces by the artist ever sold at auction: the first belongs to the painting "Orange, Red, Yellow" (1961), which was purchased at Christie’s in 2012 for $86.9 million.

Among other major sales of the May season was Jean-Michel Basquiat's two-meter canvas "Museum Security (Broadway Meltdown)" (1983), bought for $52.7 million.

The secret lots of the evening were ultra-modern works that proved to be equally sought after: for example, a painting by Chinese artist Ding Shilun, with an estimate of $50–70 thousand, sold for $358,400, becoming the most expensive of his career.