A major work by Mark Rothko, Brown and Blacks in Reds (1957), is set to be auctioned at Sotheby’s in May. The monumental canvas—nearly eight feet tall and created during the artist’s most celebrated period carries an estimated value of $70 million to $100 million, placing it among the most valuable Rothko works ever to appear at auction.
Brown and Blacks in Reds (1957)
The totally abstract style by Rothko wasn’t born overnight, it came a result of many years of work and taking inspiration from different cultures, art movements and time periods, such as Greek vases, Native American art and the work of the European Surrealists. By 1949, his preferred format was an upright rectangular canvas or paper with two or three stacked rectangular forms varying in area but free of the picture edge.
Painted in 1957, Brown and Blacks in Reds exemplifies Rothko’s this very style, mature “color field”. The painting’s palette anticipates the darker tonalities of his later works such as the Seagram Murals where he dives into expressing basic human emotions, such as tragedy, ecstasy, and doom while also showing a shift to his darker state of mind. His paintings use horizontal, vertical, and square formats to alter the viewer’s sense of space with reference to windows, doors, and portals.
Beyond its aesthetic significance having been held in Mnuchin’s collection for over two decades and shown in major international retrospectives, its appearance at auction highlights the continued strength of the market for museum-quality Rothko paintings, which remain among the most sought-after and valuable works of modern art.
Orange, Red, Yellow (1961), Rothko auction record, Christie's, New York, 2012, $86.9 million
The most expensive works by Rothko to be auctioned in the recent years are - Orange, Red, Yellow (1961) Sold for $86.9 million at Christie’s (New York, 2012) and No. 7 (1951) Sold for $82.5 million at Sotheby’s (2021, Macklowe Collection sale). Rothko’s paintings have yet to go over the $100 million mark although the sustained interest in his work demonstrates that such result is expected in the near future.
