#mark-rothko

#mark-rothko

Sotheby's Modern evening auction last night (19 May) brought in $264m ($303.3m with fees). Although the sale lacked the blockbuster, record-breaking moments seen at Christie's the previous evening and at Sotheby's own Robert Mnuchin sale last week, the total landed comfortably within its estimate of between $244m and $322.8m, excluding two lots withdrawn ahead of the auction (estimates do not include fees).

New York's marquee May auctions got off to a strong start at Sotheby's on Thursday, where $433.1 million worth of art sold in three hours. That's 132.7 percent more than the same sales last spring, despite the fact that there were fewer lots on offer, underscoring the art market's top heaviness as it recovers from more than three years of contraction.

Mark Rothko and his first wife, Edith Sachar, put down roots in a small apartment within a Greek Revival townhouse in Manhattan's East Village neighborhood in the 1930s. There, the late abstract expressionist famously known for his color field technique created the painting titled 'Thru the Window.'