Pablo Picasso\u2019s petite, Neo-Classical period Deux femmes nues assises from 1921 led off the trove and sold for $1.2m ($1.5m with fees). Mnuchin had acquired it at Christie\u2019s in London back in July 1998 for a hammer price of \u00a3330,000.<\/p>\n
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Willem de Kooning’s Untitled XLII (1983)<\/p>\n
Courtesy Sotheby’s<\/p>\n
Next, Willem de Kooning\u2019s juicy abstraction, Untitled (1970)\u2014an oil on paper mounted on canvas which measured a substantial 72in by 42\u00bdin and was formerly in the collection of the Swiss art dealer legend Thomas Ammann\u2014attracted four bidders and tallied $8.8m ($10.8m with fees).<\/p>\n
A second, bigger de Kooning, the wispy and minimal late painting Untitled XLII from 1983 and measuring 80in by 70in, sold for $10.2m ($12.4.m with fees). It was underbid by Morgan Long, founder of the eponymous London art advisory firm, who told The Art Newspaper as she walked out of the saleroom: \u201cI almost got something amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joan Miro\u2019s quirkily figured Dormeurs r\u00e9veill\u00e9s par un oiseau, executed in gouache and watercolor on paper in 1939, sold to a telephone bidder for $5.2m ($6.4m with fees). Mnuchin had bought it at a Christie\u2019s New York auction in November 2012 for $3.3m.<\/p>\n
The big guns quickly followed with Mark Rothko\u2019s magisterial abstraction, Brown and Blacks in Reds from 1957 (90.5in by 60.5in), climbing to $74m ($85.7m with fees). It came in just shy of the $86.8m record set by Orange, Red, Yellow (1961) at Christie\u2019s New York in May 2012. Brown and Blacks in Reds formerly resided in the storied Seagram Collection which acquired the Rothko from the Sidney Janis Gallery in around 1957. Mnuchin bought it at Christie\u2019s New York in May 2003 for $6,727,500 with fees. The pre-sale estimate this time around was $70m to $100m.<\/p>\n
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Helen Frankenthaler’s Cape Orange<\/p>\n
Courtesy Sotheby’s<\/p>\n
A second Rothko from Mnuchin, the early and colour-charged No. 1 from 1949, sold to another anonymous telephone bidder for $17.5m ($20.8m with fees). Mnuchin nabbed it at Christie\u2019s London in March 2017 for \u00a39.4m hammer.<\/p>\n
It is rather ironic that much of what hit the block at Sotheby\u2019s last night came back to market from its arch-rival Christie\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Another AB-EX trophy, Franz Kline\u2019s jet black and jagged edged Harleman from 1960, went for $12m ($14.4m with fees). It was titled after the artist\u2019s close friend Stanley Harleman and was last exhibited at the Mnuchin Gallery in April 2025.<\/p>\n
The following lot, Jeff Koons\u2019s stainless steel bust, Louis XIV (1986) sold to the private dealer Philippe Segalot for $8m ($8.5m with fees).<\/p>\n
In terms of date, the youngest entry was David Hammon\u2019s rope cinched tarp painting, Untitled (2017), an abstract partially hidden underneath its plastic shroud, brought $850,000 ($1m with fees).<\/p>\n
Following the Mnuchin portion, the atmosphere in Sotheby\u2019s crowded new headquarters The Breuer, formerly home to the Whitney Museum of American Art, shifted to a lower voltage with the onset of the 48-lot The Now and Contemporary section of the evening.<\/p>\n
All in, the line-up realised $223m ($266.8m with fees), again healthily midway between pre-sale estimates of $200.7m to $266.8m. Though it was hardly a feeding frenzy, all but four works sold and four new artist records were set.<\/p>\n
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Ding Shilun’s Three Princes<\/p>\n
Courtesy Sotheby’s<\/p>\n
The first few lots of The Now section featured young but mostly unheralded upstarts, led off by the 28-year-old Ding Shilun\u2019s fantastical Three Princes (2022) that made a record $280,000 ($358,400 with fees) against a pre-sale estimate of $50,000 to $70,000. The Shilun was followed by Yu Nishimura\u2019s large-scale and dream-like landscape with a solitary figure, Leaves Carpet (2017) that also sold for a record $780,000 ($998,400 with fees) and a come hither pre-sale estimate of $120,000 to $180,000.<\/p>\n
A more familiar and famous entry, one backed by a third-party guarantee, was Elizabeth Peyton\u2019s page-sized rocker duo, Earl\u2019s Court (Liam and Noel) from 1996, featuring Oasis frontman Liam Galagher kissing his brother Noel. It sold for $1.5m ($1.9m with fees).<\/p>\n
Price points quickly escalated with Ed Ruscha\u2019s text aided mountain-scape Me (1999) in acrylic on canvas that sold to the London private dealer Francis Outred for $5.6m ($6.9m with fees). It came to market naked, without a stitch of guarantee.<\/p>\n
A number of illustrious women artists were part of the big mix, including Alma Thomas\u2019s multi-coloured, concentric ringed abstraction, Pinks of Cherry Blossoms (1970) which bloomed at $3.1m ($3.9m with fees). Helen Frankenthaler\u2019s huge radiant canvas Cape Orange (1964), standing 120in tall, sold to another telephone bidder for $5.8m ($7.2m with fees).<\/p>\n
Agnes Martin\u2019s Minimalist composition, Untitled #10 (1981), imbued with nearly invisible hand-drawn horizontal lines of cobalt coloured pencil markings, made $7.2m ($8.9m with fees) and Joan Mitchell\u2019s lushly verdant Loom II (1976), possibly titled or inspired by a Van Gogh painting, brought $6.3m ($7.8m with fees).<\/p>\n
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Elizabeth Peyton’s Earl’s Court (Liam + Noel)<\/p>\n
Courtesy Sotheby’s<\/p>\n
Willem de Kooning made another bravado appearance with the rapturous and colour packed Untitled III (1975), considered part of a celebrated series after the artist left New York City for the calm greenery and ocean breezes of East Hampton. Making its auction debut, it went for $23.5m ($26m with fees), surprisingly shy of its $25m low estimate.<\/p>\n
Of the few European interlopers, Lucio Fontana\u2019s staccato punctured and sublime ode to a fabled city, Concetto Spaziale, Il Cielo di Venezia (1961) realised $13.7m ($16.4m with fees). The consignor couple Jean and Terry de Gunzburg bought it at Sotheby\u2019s London in June 2002 for \u00a3500,000 (without fees).<\/p>\n
The philanthropic minded Gunzburg\u2019s also consigned Mark Rothko\u2019s inky black over purple Untitled abstraction from 1969, an acrylic and ink on paper mounted on canvas which sold for $15m ($16.4m with fees). Both offerings, as well as a snow white Alexander Calder mobile that hammered at $7m, were backed by third party guarantees.<\/p>\n
Onwards to the ever more rarified Pop Art front, Andy Warhol\u2019s green-hued, red-lipped Brigitte Bardot (1974), formerly in the collection of the late playboy and photographer Gunter Sachs (who was briefly married to Bardot), shot skywards with the help of six bidders to $21m ($24.8m with fees). It also came to market bare of a guarantee. The head-shot silkscreen portrait was poached from Richard Avedon\u2019s 1959 photograph of the French film star.<\/p>\n
Roy Lichtenstein\u2019s Benday dot patterned Half Face with Collar (1963), still vibrant with its Mad Men style fashion, rose to $10.7m ($12.9m with fees). It was included in the artist\u2019s globe-trotting retrospective organised by the Guggenheim Museum in 1993.<\/p>\n
In a posthumous league of his own, Jean-Michel Basquiat\u2019s Museum Security (Broadway Meltdown, 1983), 84in square and studded with cryptic texts and the artist\u2019s hypnotic calligraphy, went to another telephone bidder for $45.2m ($52.7m with fees). It was backed by a third party guarantee. First owned by Kamran Diba, the founding director of the long-closed Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, it sold to the anonymous consignor at auction at Christie\u2019s London in February 2013 for \u00a39.3m ($14.6m with fees).<\/p>\n
David Hockney\u2019s rolling landscape, The Valley, Mountains in Var (near La Garde Freinet, 1970), squeaked by at $5.3m ($6.5m with fees). It\u2019s the same poolside view from the Provence villa owned by film director Tony Richardson which famously served as the backdrop to Hockney\u2019s record setting Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)<\/a> from 1972 that fetched $90.3m at Christie\u2019s New York in November 2018. Those were the days.<\/p>\n