Christie's will offer exceptional works from the Bass House in Fort Worth, Texas, designed by architect Paul Rudolph for Anne and Sid Bass in 1970. The single-owner sale, titled "Art from the Bass House," will be held on 12 May 2025, headlined by a rare Mark Rothko painting from 1950-1951, along with works by Ellsworth Kelly, Alexander Calder, and Frank Stella. The collection will be presented within the 20th Century Evening Sale and the Post-War & Contemporary Art Day Sale, continuing the Bass collection's presence at Christie's after the record-breaking 2022 sale of The Collection of Anne H. Bass.
The sale matters because it represents the dispersal of a landmark American collection that united visionary modern architecture, landscape design, and monumental post-war art. The Bass House itself is considered a masterpiece of Modernism, and the auction offers a rare opportunity to acquire works from a setting that embodied the Basses' singular vision. The event also underscores the enduring strength of the high-end art market, following the $363 million total achieved in the previous Bass collection sale at Christie's.