A record-shattering week at Christie’s New York led by Jackson Pollock, Constantin Brancusi, Mark Rothko, Donald Judd and Gerhard Richter — results surpass $1.45 billion

Rockefeller Center, New York, updated: 22 May 2026, 2:00pm ET.

Christie’s 20th and 21st Century Art sales week in New York marked 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.

A resounding success, it was Christie’s highest-ever result for the May sales season. At the close of the week, total sales reached $1,453,504,726.

The auctions attracted bidders and buyers from around the world. Bids flew in online and via the phone while palpable energy in the packed saleroom — anchored by the newly-designed oak rostrum, which was hand-made by Sir Jony Ive and the LoveFrom team for Christie’s 260th anniversary this year — 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 over 20,000 visitors.

New artist records were set for Jackson Pollock, Constantin Brancusi, Mark Rothko, Joan Miró, Josef Albers, Alice Neel, El Lissitzky, Bridget Tichenor and Somaya Critchlow. Records in medium were set for Henri Matisse, Donald Judd, Aleksandr Rodchenko and Remedios Varo.

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.

On Tuesday, outperforming expectations and setting two artist records, the Impressionist and Modern Works on Paper Sale and Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale together achieved $62,975,806.

On Wednesday evening, the sales of Defined Space: The Collection of Henry S. McNeil, Jr. and Marian’s Richters & 21st Century Evening Sale continued the momentum, cumulatively achieving $162,698,350 and selling 98% by lot and 98% by value. It was the highest 21st Century Evening Sale in five years.

Thursday’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale achieved $102,854,700 selling 93% by lot and 96% by value, the highest total in seven years.

Marquee Week Sales concluded with two online sales: Picasso Ceramics and Breaking Ground: The Private Collection of Marian Goodman Part I, which both exceeded expectation to achieve a combined total of $3,909,568, selling 100% by lot.

Reports below:

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

• 20th Century Evening Sale

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

• Marian’s Richters & 21st Century Evening Sale

• Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale

• Impressionist and Modern Works on Paper Sale

• Impressionist and Modern 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 — led by auctioneer Adrien Meyer, Global Head of Private Sales and Co-Chairman of Impressionist and Modern Art — drove the total to $630,825,000, 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 has 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.

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, led by Adrien Meyer and David Kleiweg de Zwaan, SVP, International Specialist, Impressionist & Modern Art. 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.

Four additional records were also set Monday night. Mother and Child (Nancy and Olivia) by Alice Neel more than tripled its high estimate, realising $5,687,000 and marking a new auction record for the artist. Additionally, Henri Matisse’s Nature morte, fougères et grenades set a record for the artist in ink on paper, achieving $4,833,000. Two artists also achieved a record for a work on paper: Aleksandr Rodchenko’s Maquette for ‘War of the Future’, at $1,524,000, and Energia cósmica (Inspiración) by Remedios Varo, at $4,467,000.

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.

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

On Wednesday 20 May, auctioneer Yü-Ge Wang, Director and Senior Client Advisor, started the evening with Defined Space: The Collection of Henry S. McNeil, Jr. The sale featured 12 works from the home of Henry ‘Hank’ S. McNeil, Jr., whose collection is among the most distinguished holdings of Minimalism in private hands. It totalled $25,889,900, selling 100% by lot and 100% by value.

Donald Judd’s 1969 masterwork untitled was the collection’s top lot, attracting competitive bidding and setting a record for a Judd stack at $12,825,000. Described as ‘a deeply meditative thesis on colour’ by Global President Alex Rotter, the iconic minimalist sculpture showcases the artist at his best.

Other collection highlights included Carl Andre’s floor sculpture 66 Copper-Carbon Corner (2006), which sold for more than three times the low estimate at $1,117,600, and Richard Artschwager’s Two-Part Invention (1967), which closed out the sale with energetic bidding to realise $635,000, more than ten times the low estimate.

Marian’s Richters & 21st Century Evening Sale

The excitement continued with Marian’s Richters & 21st Century Evening Sale, also steered by auctioneer Yü-Ge Wang. It realised a total of $136,808,450, selling 94% by lot and 97% by value, the highest 21st Century Evening Sale in five years. The sale opened with an exceptional selection of eight works from Marian Goodman’s private collection, which she acquired directly from Gerhard Richter at defining moments in his practice.

Richter’s 1982 photorealist painting Kerze was the evening’s top lot, fetching $35,135,000. The first Richter candle painting to appear at auction in 15 years, the rare work is both a symbol of ephemerality and a memento mori. Also from Goodman’s personal collection, Mohn (Poppy) (1995), a masterful example of Richter’s abstract practice, realised $20,070,000 after six minutes of spirited bidding, while Abstraktes Bild (1995) sold for $8,737,000, more than double the low estimate. Overall, Goodman’s collection was 100% sold by lot and achieved $78,764,850 in total. Breaking Ground: The Private Collection of Marian Goodman Part I remains open for bidding online until Friday 22 May.

It was also a strong evening for rising stars. Firelei Báez’s monumental work For Marie-Claire Heureuse Félicité Bonheur (a reconstituted echo, to be spoken, complete) (2019) achieved $431,800 against a low estimate of $250,000, while Count Me Out (2022) by Somaya Critchlow set a new world record for the artist when it sold for $88,900.

Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale

On Thursday 21 May, bids in the room, online around the world and on the phones drove the Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale to $102,854,700, selling 93% by lot and 96% by value the highest total in seven years.. Auctioneers David Kleiweg de Zwaan, William Featherby, Joey Quigley and Yü-Ge Wang returned to the rostrum, joined by Jennifer Wright, Head of Old Masters Paintings.

The sale got off to a thrilling start: Early in the day, Josef Albers set a new artist’s record when Homage to the Square: Golden (1958) sold for $3,552,000 — over four times the high estimate. Shortly after, Joan Mitchell’s Untitled (1965) was crowned the highest-selling work of the sale at $5,382,000.

Continuing Wednesday night’s excitement for Marian Goodman’s personal collection of Gerhard Richters, Untitled (7.2.89), also from Goodman’s collection, realised $330,200, almost quadrupling the high estimate. Another Goodman highlight, 18 December 2008 by Richter soared above its high estimate at $482,600.

Several works by George Condo — part of a single-owner grouping from the collection of Anna Condo — also well surpassed their estimates, including Untitled (circa 2005), which achieved $1,079,500. His Untitled (2012) and Untitled (circa 2000) both nearly doubled their high estimates, realising $698,500 and $304,800, respectively.

It was also a strong day for Latin American art. Fernando Botero achieved high numbers in multiple mediums when his sculpture Horse (2008) sold for $1,778,000 and his painting The Street (2013) realised $889,000. Additionally, Rufino Tamayo’s steel sculpture Ancestro (1989) sold for twice its high estimate at $444,500.

Impressionist and Modern Works on Paper Sale

Competitive bidding continued on Tuesday morning with the Impressionist and Modern Works on Paper Sale at 10:00 a.m. ET, led by auctioneers Tash Perrin, Deputy Chairman, and William Featherby, Junior Specialist, Post-War & Contemporary Art. The sale achieved the highest total ever in its history, reaching $21,212,100, and selling 97% sold by value and 92% sold by lot.

The sale included notable works like Edgar Degas’s Quatre danseuses à mi-corps (1899) and Pablo Picasso’s Homme et Femme (1964), both of which hailed from the collection of Joanna Carson, the former wife of television host Johnny Carson. The Degas realised $1,524,000 and the Picasso realised $2,515,000, becoming the top-selling lot of the sale.

Continuing the momentum of Monday night’s evening sales, many works sailed past their estimates. Henri Matisse’s Portrait de Lydia, (1946) coming to Christie’s from a member of the Matisse family, more than doubled its high estimate, selling for $762,000. René Magritte’s Le mois des vendanges (circa 1959) — featuring a crowd wearing bowler hats, the artist’s iconic motif — was another top lot of the morning, reaching over seven times its low estimate, realising $2,149,000.

In one remarkable moment, El Lissitzky’s Preliminary Study for “Proun 2 D” (circa 1920) sold for over 20 times its high estimate, realising $673,100 and setting a new auction record for a work on paper by the artist, surpassing a benchmark that had stood since 1990. An additional work by Lissitzky, Proun Study (circa 1920) sold for over 10 times the high estimate, at $304,200.

Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale

Later in the afternoon, the Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale began at 2:00 p.m. ET with a comprehensive survey of late 19th and 20th century artists, including Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Pablo Picasso. The sale was led by auctioneers David Kleiweg de Zwaan, SVP, International Specialist, Impressionist & Modern Art; Sarah El-Tamer, VP, Client Relationship Director; Diana Bramham, VP, Specialist, Latin American Art; and Joey Quigley, SVP, Business Development Director, Trusts & Estates. In total, the sale achieved $41,763,706 and was 98% sold by value and 94% sold by lot.

The top lot of the afternoon was Picasso’s Le peintre et son mondèle dans un paysage (1963) which sold for $3,369,000. A Henry Moore sculpture conceived in 1938 entitled Stringed Mother and Child (conceived in 1938) more than doubled its high estimate, realising $254,000 after his Double Standing Figure (conceived in 1950) closed out Monday night’s 20th Century Evening Sale, selling for over $7,000,000 after several minutes of lively bidding.

Renoir had a strong showing on Tuesday. Femme nue couchée dans un paysage (1902) was the second highest-selling lot of the afternoon, realising $2,393,000. Two additional Renoir works more than doubled their high estimates, each selling for $520,700: Nature morte aux fraises (circa 1908) and Paysage de bord de mer (circa 1898).

An untitled work by Surrealist painter Bridget Tichenor inspired great excitement, selling for over 10 times its high estimate at $838,200. The amount represented a new record for the artist at auction. It was a solid night for Surrealism; Leonor Fini’s La chambre d’écho (1974) nearly tripled its low estimate, realising $889,000.

Picasso Ceramics

Far exceeding expectation, the Picasso Ceramics sale closed on Friday, achieving $3,121,025, selling 100% by value and 100% by lot.

Breaking Ground: The Private Collection of Marian Goodman Part I

Closing out the historic week, Breaking Ground: The Private Collection of Marian Goodman Part I also closed on Friday. In total, the sale realised $728,345, selling 100% by value and 100% by lot.