A major Mark Rothko painting, *Brown and Blacks in Reds* (1957), from the collection of the late financier and dealer Robert Mnuchin, sold for $85.8 million at Sotheby’s New York, becoming the second-highest price ever achieved for the artist at auction. The work, estimated at $70–100 million, was part of an 11-lot sale dedicated to Mnuchin’s collection, which also includes works by Willem de Kooning, Pablo Picasso, and Franz Kline. A phone bidder won the painting, with Helena Newman, chairman of Sotheby’s Europe, handling the bid.
The sale kicks off New York’s marquee May auctions, where the Big Three auction houses are expected to sell between $1.8 billion and $2.6 billion in art over the next week, nearly doubling last year’s totals. The result underscores the enduring strength of the high-end art market, particularly for blue-chip Modern masters like Rothko, and highlights the continued appeal of trophy collections from legendary figures like Mnuchin.