Rothko painting could fetch $40M

NEW YORK — Collectors looking to add a Mark Rothko work to their portfolio have the opportunity to acquire a large blue-and-green painting by the celebrated and influential American abstract impressionist next month when it goes on the auction block at Christie’s.

“No. 17” will be offered at the auctioneer’s postwar and contemporary art evening sale in New York on May 10 with a presale estimate of $30 million to $40 million.

The oil painting’s two large colour panes — one electric blue, the other dark green — are separated by a horizontal azure blue bar that bleeds into the neighbouring areas.

It has an extensive exhibition history.

It was created in 1957 and included in a retrospective of Rothko’s works that travelled across Europe between 1961 and 1963. When the retrospective opened at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London, it was the first time that much of the British public encountered Rothko’s work.

“It was a seminal exhibition positioning Rothko as a leading figure of the Abstract Expressionist movement,” said Brett Gorvy, international head of Christie’s contemporary art. “The effect of these exhibitions in Europe was very important to his career.”

The painting comes on the heels of a red-hot market for works by Rothko, who died in 1970.

“The global interest in Rothko is enormous,” said Gorvy, adding that the work was conservatively estimated to bring up to $40 million. “What’s exciting about a painting like this coming to today’s market is that it’s not limited to one audience. Rothko’s probably the most global artist in terms of high level.”

Last May, Christie’s sold Rothko’s 1958 painting “No. 10” for nearly $82 million, exceeding its $60 million presale estimate. The auction record for a Rothko is $86.8 million for his “Orange, Red, Yellow.”

Rothko painted “No. 17” during a brief period when he was using lighter colouration and just months before he began work on his famous, darker and intense, Seagram Murals series that he later donated to the Tate museum in London.

The painting will be on view at Christie’s London from April 11 through April 17.