The Art Newspaper highlights five major lots from New York's May 2025 auctions. Phillips offers Joan Mitchell's diptych 'Plain' (1989), estimated at $5-7 million, from the collection of late Miami art patron Tina Hills. Christie's presents Donald Judd's rare copper and red Plexiglas 'Untitled (Stack)' (1969), estimated at $10-15 million, from the Minimalist collection of the late Henry S. McNeil Jr. Sotheby's leads with Jean-Michel Basquiat's 'Museum Security (Broadway Meltdown)' (1983), estimated above $45 million, and Mark Rothko's 'Brown and Blacks in Reds' (1957), estimated at $70-100 million from the collection of late dealer Robert Mnuchin.
These auctions matter because they test the high end of the art market amid shifting economic conditions. The Mitchell diptych follows her record-breaking sale in Asia, while the Judd stack is the only example of its rare color combination still in private hands. The Basquiat and Rothko works represent peak periods for both artists, with the Rothko estimate potentially setting a new benchmark for the artist. The sales also reflect the dispersal of significant private collections—Hills, McNeil, and Mnuchin—offering works that have been off the market for decades.