A record-shattering night as Christie’s surpasses $1 billion, led by Jackson Pollock, Constantin Brancusi and Mark Rothko

Rockefeller Center, New York, updated: 18 May 2026, 10:00pm ET.

Christie’s 20th and 21st Century Art sales week in New York marks a season of remarkable collections from distinguished patrons, including S.I. Newhouse, Agnes Gund, Henry S. McNeil, Jr., Marian Goodman and Lorinda Payson De Roulet, as well as Marilyn Arison and Joanna Carson, amongst others.

The week kicked off on 18 May with Masterpieces: The Private Collection of S.I. Newhouse followed by the 20th Century Evening Sale. Together the sales showcased a century of sweeping change and radical reinvention in the art world. Cumulatively, the evening’s sales totalled $1,121,126,500, selling 97% by lot and 99% by value.

The evening set eight new records, including artist records at auction for Constantin Brancusi, Joan Miró, Alice Neel, Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko. Records in medium were set for Henri Matisse, Aleksandr Rodchenko and Remedios Varo.

Monday night’s auctions attracted bidders from around the world, garnering action in the room, on the phone and online. The palpable excitement in the saleroom followed a 10-day exhibition that broke the attendance record for any one sale exhibition preview at Christie’s Rockefeller Center in New York with nearly 20,000 visitors.

Auctioneers Adrien Meyer, Global Head of Private Sales and Co-Chairman of Impressionist and Modern Art, and David Kleiweg de Zwaan, SVP, International Specialist, Impressionist & Modern Art, led the night’s bidding from behind the newly-designed oak rostrum, which was hand-made by Sir Jony Ive and the LoveFrom team for Christie’s 260th anniversary this year.

Reports below:

• Masterpieces: The Private Collection of S.I. Newhouse

• 20th Century Evening Sale

Reports to come:

• Impressionist and Modern Works on Paper Sale

• Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale

• Defined Space: The Collection of Henry S. McNeil, Jr.

• Marian’s Richters & 21st Century Evening Sale

• Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale

• Picasso Ceramics

• Breaking Ground: The Private Collection of Marian Goodman Part I

Masterpieces: The Private Collection of S.I. Newhouse

The competitive bidding for Masterpieces: The Private Collection of S.I. Newhouse drove the total to $631 million, selling 100% by lot, and 100% by value. Together with three prior sales from Mr. Newhouse’s collection sold at Christie’s in 2018, 2019 and 2023, the Newhouse Collection tonight reached a cumulative total of $1.05 billion, becoming the second highest in history after the collection of Paul Allen in 2022 — the only other collection to exceed $1 billion, also at Christie’s. The co-owner of the Condé Nast media empire, Mr. Newhouse was one of the most influential collectors of his generation. Monday evening’s lots represented an especially personal chapter of his collection, bringing together 16 masterpieces by artists including Pollock, Brancusi and Picasso, as well as Jasper Johns, Piet Mondrian and others.

Brancusi’s Danaïde (circa 1913) inspired lively bidding before selling for $107,585,000. The sculpture, modelled after a young Hungarian art student, Margit Pogany, set a new record at auction for the artist.

After almost seven minutes of bidding, Pollock’s Number 7A, 1948 realised $181,185,000, nearly tripling the artist’s previous record. The large-scale work was painted when the artist was 36 and represents an especially significant masterpiece from his oeuvre.

Joan Miró’s Portrait de Madame K. (1924), a bold vision of femininity and eroticism, sold for $53,535,000, establishing a new auction record for the artist.

Building on the night’s momentum, several works by Picasso also achieved exceptional results: Tête de femme (Fernande) (1909), Homme à la guitare (1913), La femme enceinte, 1er état (conceived in 1950; this bronze version cast circa 1951-1953) and Tête de femme (1907) sold for  $48,360,000, $40,885,000, $22,485,000 and $14,435,000 respectively.

20th Century Evening Sale

The energy continued as the night transitioned into the 20th Century Evening Sale. Overall, the sale realised a total of $490.3 million, selling 96% by lot, 99% by value.

Three magnificent works by Mark Rothko, Cy Twombly and Joseph Cornell from The Collection of Agnes Gund together sold for $150.8 million. Rothko’s No. 15 (Two Greens and Red Stripe) set a record for the artist at auction, selling for $98,385,000. Gund acquired the work directly from the artist in 1967 during a visit to his studio.

Another centrepiece of Monday evening’s auction, Roy Lichtenstein’s Anxious Girl, never before seen in public, sold for $46,060,000. Many works more than doubled their estimates, including Claude Monet’s Pommiers, Vétheuil, which realised $19,600,000, and Edgar Degas’s Enfants et poneys dans un parc, which sold for $5,443,000.

Up next

Christie’s 20th and 21st Century Art Sale week continues on Tuesday morning with the Impressionist and Modern Works on Paper Sale, followed by the Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale in the afternoon.

On Wednesday 20 May, Defined Space: The Collection of Henry S. McNeil, Jr. will present an array of Minimalist works. It will be followed directly by the Marian’s Richters & 21st Century Evening Sale, which includes masterworks from the past 50 years, opening with a selection of the late gallerist’s collection of Gerhard Richter pieces. The Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale will take place on Thursday 21 May, and the Picasso Ceramics and Breaking Ground: The Private Collection of Marian Goodman Part I sales are open for bidding online until Friday 22 May.