Christie’s achieved $1.1 billion in sales during a single evening auction on Monday, marking a dramatic rebound from the previous year when the three major New York auction houses combined sold that amount over the entire May season. The sale featured trophy works from the collections of S.I. Newhouse and Agnes Gund, with Jackson Pollock’s *Number 7A (1948)* selling for $181.2 million and Mark Rothko’s *No. 15 (Two Greens and Red Stripe)* fetching $98.4 million. Despite the strong overall results, seven of the 16 works in the Newhouse sale hammered below their low estimates, and Constantin Brancusi’s *Danaïde* failed to reach its $100 million estimate, indicating price resistance even for top-tier art.
The $1.1 billion night signals a stunning recovery for the high-end art market after a sluggish period, driven by the release of blue-chip collections and aggressive third-party guarantees. The sale underscores the enduring demand for masterpieces from legendary collectors, but the mixed results for certain works suggest that buyers remain selective. Christie’s ability to generate $170.8 million in fees and achieve a 100% sell-through rate for the Newhouse collection highlights the auction house’s strategic use of guarantees and its success in attracting deep-pocketed bidders, including a bidding war between Christie’s global president Alex Rotter and Hauser & Wirth co-founder Iwan Wirth.