New York’s marquee spring auction week, which began on May 18th, unfolded against a confident backdrop. Buoyed by major estate sales from figures including Condé Nast owner S.I. Newhouse, the Museum of Modern Art trustee Agnes Gund, dealer Marian Goodman, and financier Robert Mnuchin, the season delivered some of the strongest totals in recent years.
Christie’s sales led the week, realizing more than $1.1 billion across two back-to-back opening night sales—almost equaling the $1.27 billion generated across Bonhams, Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips last May season.
Its sale of works from the collection of S.I. Newhouse brought in $631 million, led by Jackson Pollock’s Number 7A (1948), which sold for $181.2 million and nearly tripled the artist’s previous auction record. Constantin Brâncuși and Joan Miró also set new benchmarks that evening, while Christie’s subsequent 20th-century evening sale produced records for Mark Rothko and Alice Neel through works from the collection of Gund.
Sotheby’s Modern evening sale brought in $303.3 million, led by Henri Matisse’s La Chaise lorraine (1919), which sold for $48.4 million. Phillips, meanwhile, achieved a 100 percent sell-through rate and more than doubled the total of its equivalent sale last year, setting new records for Peder Severin Krøyer, Pat Passlof, and Joseph Yaeger.
The results suggest renewed confidence at the top end of the market, particularly for works with exceptional provenance.
Here, we spotlight 17 artist records set during the season. All prices include fees.
Jackson Pollock
Number 7A, 1948
Sold for $181,185,000 (Estimate: $50 million–$70 million)
Christie’s
Painted in 1948, when Jackson Pollock was 36, Number 7A marks a decisive turning point in modern art. Created on the floor of his barn studio near East Hampton, the monumental canvas, spanning more than 11 feet wide and 3 feet high, is both the largest Pollock drip painting and the most monumental work by the artist ever to appear at auction.
Christie’s described the work as “opening the door to a pure form of expression suitable for the modern postwar world,” positioning it among the earliest truly abstract paintings in art history. Acquired directly from the artist by early champion Herbert Matter, the painting later entered the collections of Kimiko and John Powers before spending 25 years with S.I. Newhouse.
Unseen publicly since 1977, it led Christie’s Newhouse sale at $181.2 million, nearly tripling Pollock’s previous auction record of $61.1 million, set by Number 17 (1951) in 2021. It also became the fourth most expensive artwork ever sold at auction.
Constantin Brâncuși
Danaïde, ca. 1913
Sold for $107,585,000 (Estimate: $100 million)
Christie’s
At just 25 centimeters high, Danaïde (ca 1913) embodies Constantin Brâncuși’s radical reinvention of sculpture, stripping away descriptive detail in favor of universal forms intended to evoke a timeless sense of purity.
Inspired by Hungarian artist and muse Margit Pogány, whom Brâncuși met in Paris in 1910, the bronze, with its rare gold leaf finish influenced by Japanese art, is considered among the earliest expressions of modern sculpture.
Brâncuși personally chose the work for his first solo exhibition in New York in 1914, where it was acquired by Eugene and Agnes Meyer, becoming part of a collection held by two of the artist’s most important patrons and lifelong friends. In 2002, it was sold to S.I. Newhouse Jr. for $18.2 million, then a record for any sculpture at auction.
Estimated at up to $100 million, Danaïde drew one bidder, the third-party guarantor, yet sold for $107.6 million. That makes it the second most expensive sculpture ever sold at auction after Alberto Giacometti’s L’Homme au doigt (1947), which achieved $141.3 million at Christie’s in 2015.
Mark Rothko
No. 15 (Two Greens and Red Stripe), 1964
Sold for $98,385,000 (Estimate: $70 million–$90 million)
Christie’s
Painted in 1964, No. 15 (Two Greens and Red Stripe) belongs to the final phase of Mark Rothko’s career, when his luminous color fields gave way to darker palettes and heightened emotional intensity. Towering over seven feet high, the painting layers two deep green rectangles interrupted by a horizontal band of red, all suspended against a hazy ground of violet and ultramarine blue, creating the slow, contemplative rhythm associated with Rothko’s late work.
Completed just years before the artist turned his focus to the Rothko Chapel, the painting was one of the earliest masterpieces acquired by Agnes Gund, who bought it directly from Rothko during a 1967 studio visit and became so attached to the work that she lent it from her apartment only once, to the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Selling for $98.4 million at Christie’s, the work set a new auction record for Rothko, surpassing the $86.9 million achieved by Orange, Red, Yellow (1961) in 2012, only days after Brown and Blacks in Reds (1957) narrowly missed the title at Sotheby’s with an $85.8 million result.
Joan Miró
Portrait de Madame K., 1924
Sold for $53,535,000 (Estimate: $25 million–$35 million)
Christie’s
Painted in Paris in 1924, the year André Breton published the Surrealist Manifesto, Portrait de Madame K. (1924) marks a decisive break in Joan Miró’s practice. Rejecting the meticulously rendered realism of his earlier work, Miró stripped away color and perspectival depth, replacing conventional representation with an abstract vision populated by surreal, near-magical, and mystical imagery.
“I was producing once again,” Miró recalled in 1928, “and taking off from reality, I was able to lose contact from reality…above all, in Portrait de Madame K.”
First owned by fellow Surrealist and neighbor Max Ernst, the painting sold for $53.5 million at Christie’s last week, more than doubling its low estimate and setting a new auction record for the artist. Miró’s previous benchmark was $37 million, achieved for Peinture (Étoile Bleue) (1927) at Sotheby’s London in 2012.
Alice Neel
Mother and Child (Nancy and Olivia), 1967
Sold for $5.7 million (Estimate: $1.2 million–$1.8 million)
Christie’s
The only record-setting result for a woman artist at Christie’s 20th-century evening sale came with Alice Neel’s Mother and Child (Nancy and Olivia) (1967). The work sold for $5.7 million against an estimate of $1.2–$1.8 million.
Depicting Neel’s daughter-in-law and first grandchild, Mother and Child (Nancy and Olivia) was the first double portrait the artist made of the pair, reworking the art historical tradition of the Madonna and Child into a study of early motherhood that balances intimacy with anxiety. Held in the same collection since 1984, the work featured in the touring exhibition “Alice Neel: People Come First”, which traveled between the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, and the de Young Museum in 2021 and 2022.
The result marks a significant increase on Neel’s previous benchmark, set by Dr Finger’s Waiting Room (1966), which sold for just over $3 million in 2021, coinciding with her major retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Figurative works from the 1960s and 1970s have long generated Neel’s strongest auction results, as institutional attention surrounding her work continues to expand, most recently through “Alice Neel: I Am the Century,” on view at Pinacoteca Agnelli in Turin, Italy, earlier this year, the first comprehensive exhibition dedicated to the artist in Italy.
Kenneth Noland
Circle, 1978
Sold for $5,488,000 (Estimate: $4 million–$6 million)
Sotheby’s
Begun in 1958, Kenneth Noland’s “Concentric Circle” series has become among the most recognizable expressions of color-field painting. Monumental examples remain exceptionally rare: Of the approximately 175 paintings the artist is believed to have produced in the series, only 11 are known to measure more than 90 inches across.
That scarcity helped propel Circle (1978)—its concentric bands of vermilion, scarlet, sapphire, and marigold stretching more than seven feet in either direction—to $5.49 million at Sotheby’s. It far surpassed Noland’s previous auction record of $4.25 million set by Rocker (1958) at Sotheby’s in New York in 2021.
The result marks the second time Circle has established an auction record for the artist, having previously sold at Christie’s in 2013 for $2.14 million, overtaking the long-standing record held by Empyrean (1960), which achieved $300,000 in 1981. At the time, Empyrean set the highest auction price for a living American artist, as well as records for both Noland and color-field painting.
Harald Slott-Møller
Summer Day (Sommerdag), 1888.
Sold for $1,290,000 (Estimate: $30,000–$50,000)
Phillips
Away from the marquee lots, Danish painter Harald Slott-Møller produced one of the week’s most unexpected results, when Summer Day (Sommerdag) (1888) sold for $1.29 million—well in excess of its $50,000 high estimate. The result eclipsed the artist’s previous auction record, set when Badende unge piger (1903–04) sold for $71,986 in 1995 at Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers, three decades earlier.
According to Phillips’s deputy chairman for the Americas and senior international specialist in Modern & Contemporary Art, Jeremiah Evarts, the work sparked an “unforgettable bidding war” lasting more than six minutes before ultimately selling to a phone bidder.
Painted shortly after Slott-Møller’s marriage to fellow artist Agnes Slott-Møller in 1888, the work depicts two women wading into shallow water during the couple’s honeymoon in northern Denmark. The figures are thought to represent Agnes and the painter Marie Krøyer, then Marie Triepcke, who would go on to marry P. S. Krøyer the following year.
Peder Severin Krøyer
Self-Portrait, Sitting by His Easel at Skagen Beach (Selvportræt, siddende ved staffeliet på Skagens strand), 1902
Sold for $1,290,000 (Estimate: $300,000–$500,000)
Phillips
One of the evening’s more unexpected results came with P. S. Krøyer’s Self-Portrait, Sitting by His Easel at Skagen Beach (1902), which sold for $1.29 million against an estimate of $300,000–$500,000. The result set a new record for the artist more than two decades after his previous high, established by Marie i haven (1895), which sold for $1.1 million at Christie’s London in 2000.
The work came from the collection of John L. Loeb Jr., whose holdings helped establish one of the most significant private collections of Danish art outside Denmark. Painted on the beach at Skagen, a coastal community in northern Denmark, the self-portrait frames Krøyer within the landscape that shaped much of his work. Created when the artist was 51, the painting belongs to a relatively small group of self-portraits made across his lifetime, through which he repeatedly revisited his identity as an artist.
Yu Nishimura
Leaves carpet, 2017
Sold $998,400 (Estimate: $120,000–$180,000)
Sotheby’s
The rapid rise of Yu Nishimura was confirmed further at Sotheby’s when Leaves carpet (2017) sold for $998,400—more than eight times its low estimate and just shy of the million-dollar mark.
Expansive at over 7 feet wide, the painting exemplifies Nishimura’s meditative approach to landscape, balancing immersive natural scenes with an intimate, almost nostalgic sensibility.
Reworking the 17th-century fukinuki yatai (blown-off roof) perspective alongside Western linear perspective, Nishimura constructs intricate worlds where human presence and nature converge. The result surpassed the artist’s previous auction record, set by thicket (2020), which sold for $711,200 at Sotheby’s in 2025.
Following recent solo exhibitions in Paris with Crèvecœur, London with Sadie Coles HQ, and representation by David Zwirner, interest in the Japan-based artist has intensified rapidly. In October 2026, he will open his first major European institutional exhibition at Lafayette Anticipations in Paris.
Pat Passlof
Fortune, 1960
Sold for $580,500 (Estimate: $300,000–$500,000)
Phillips
This new auction record for American painter Pat Passlof came by a relatively narrow margin. Fortune (1960) sold for $580,500 against an estimate of $300,000–$500,000, surpassing the previous high set by Fanfare (1973), which realized $537,600 at a Sotheby’s sale in February. The succession of records reflects an auction market still taking shape, with only around 25 works by the late artist having appeared at auction, all since 2020.
Executed in 1960, Fortune comes from a period in Passlof’s career when her paintings grew increasingly expansive, marked by layered brushwork and shifting fields of color associated with the second generation of the New York School. Measuring more than 6 feet across, the work reflects the ambitious scale favored by many of her Abstract Expressionist contemporaries. Passlof studied with Willem de Kooning at Black Mountain College in 1948 before continuing privately with him in New York, placing her within the central lineage of post-war American abstraction.
Edvard Eriksen
The Little Mermaid (Den lille havfrue), c.1910–1913
Sold for $541,000 (Estimate: $12,000–$18,000)
Phillips
Danish Icelandic sculptor Edvard Eriksen, best known for creating Copenhagen’s iconic The Little Mermaid sculpture, set a new auction high when a reduced-scale version of The Little Mermaid (Den lille havfrue) (ca. 1910–13) sold for $541,000. The work far exceeded its estimate of $12,000–$18,000 and surpassed the artist’s previous record of $150,916, established in 2008.
Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s 1837 fairytale, The Little Mermaid became an enduring symbol of Copenhagen after the original 4-foot-tall bronze was unveiled on the Langelinie promenade in 1913, after brewer Carl Jacobsen commissioned it.
The example offered at Phillips, signed and dated 1948, was cast at a reduced scale and retains close formal similarities to the original monument.
Joseph Yaeger
There is a light and it always goes out, 2021
Sold for $477,300 (Estimate: $60,000–$80,000)
Phillips
Montana-born painter Joseph Yaeger proved to be one of the most sought-after ultra-contemporary names of the season. His large-scale watercolor on linen, There is a light and it always goes out (2021), sold for $477,300 against an estimate of $60,000–$80,000. The total surpassed the $320,000 achieved by The Euphemism (2021) just days earlier at a Sotheby’s sale in New York. The work was acquired by the consignor from the now-closed East London gallery Project Native Informant in 2022 and later shown at fellow London space The Perimeter.
The work depicts a hand holding a burning match. Like The Euphemism before it, the work sparked a seven-way bidding contest, underscoring the intensity of demand surrounding Yaeger’s paintings.
The result represents an almost 50 percent increase on the artist’s previous auction high. More than 25 works by Yaeger have appeared at auction since 2024, with another five offered across New York sales this season.
Ding Shilun
Three Princes, 2022
Sold for $358,400 (Estimate: $50,000–$70,000)
Sotheby’s
Ding Shilun’s Three Princes (2022) sold for more than seven times its low estimate, reaching $358,400 at Sotheby’s. Since completing his MA at the Royal College of Art in 2022, the Guangzhou, China-born, London-based artist has gained attention for large-scale narrative paintings that draw together Chinese folklore, Japanese manga, pop culture, and the traditions of Chinese painting.
Acquired by the consignor from Shilun’s first solo exhibition at Bernheim in Zurich in 2022, the result more than doubled the artist’s previous benchmark, set by The Adoption of the Maiden (2021), which sold for $151,519 at Phillips in London in 2025.
The result arrives at an early stage in Shilun’s auction market. Only five works by the artist have appeared at auction to date; the artist’s smaller painting RING (2022) sold within estimate for just over $5,000 at a Phillips sale in Hong Kong as recently as March. Following solo exhibitions at ICA Miami and the Zabludowicz Collection, Shilun has just opened his first comprehensive exhibition in China at Song Art Museum in Beijing.
Florian Krewer
night hunters, 2022
Sold for $256,000 (Estimate: $120,000–$180,000)
Sotheby’s
Only five works by Florian Krewer have appeared at auction to date, with previous results remaining firmly within five figures. That changed on Friday night, when night hunters achieved $256,000 at Sotheby’s—more than 10 times the artist’s previous auction record of $25,404, set by Untitled (2015) at Phillips in London in 2025.
Raised in western Germany before studying under Peter Doig at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Krewer creates psychologically charged paintings shaped by personal experience and his life in the South Bronx, New York City, where he is now based. Acquired by the consignor in 2022 from Michael Werner Gallery, night hunters belongs to his body of nocturnal scenes populated by prowling animals and distorted figures.
Kikuo Saito
Cerise, 2009
Sold for $245,100 (Estimate: $80,000–$120,000)
Phillips
Japanese-born artist Kikuo Saito set a new auction high with Cerise (2009), which sold at Phillips for $245,100 against an estimate of $80,000–$120,000. The result surpassed the previous record established when Sugar Moon (2011) achieved $175,000 at an Artnet Auctions sale in 2024.Born in Tokyo in 1939, Saito moved to New York at 27 and became closely involved with the La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, creating sets, costumes, and productions that fused Japanese avant-garde influences with his own distinctive visual language.
The artist, who passed away in 2016, also worked as an assistant to Helen Frankenthaler, Kenneth Noland, and Larry Poons, placing him within the lineage of post-war abstraction and color-field painting.
March Avery
Molly in the Gazebo, 1982
Sold for $141,900 (Estimate: $30,000–$40,000)
Phillips
March Avery’s Molly in the Gazebo (1982) sold for $141,900 against an estimate of $30,000–$40,000, far surpassing the artist’s previous auction record of $57,600 at a 2025 Doyle New York sale for Turkish Silvertrees (Gulluck) (1981).
The sale marks the first time the artist’s auction market has moved decisively into six figures. The work was acquired by the present owner from the now-shuttered Blum & Poe in Los Angeles and featured in the gallery’s 2020 solo exhibition of Avery’s work.
Born in New York in 1932, Avery grew up surrounded by artists, including her parents, Milton Avery and Sally Michel Avery, while figures such as Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman regularly moved through the family’s orbit.
Woody de Othello
At Night I Can’t Sleep, 2018
Sold for $54,180 (Estimate: $20,000–$30,000)
Phillips
Woody de Othello’s At Night I Can’t Sleep (2018) sold for $54,180 against an estimate of $20,000–$30,000, nearly tripling its high estimate and surpassing the artist’s previous auction record of $20,320 set in 2025.
The result marks a significant leap for de Othello’s auction market, arriving as institutional recognition of his practice continues to accelerate. The work—a three-drawer nightstand in dark glazed ceramic, its eye-shaped drawer surveilling the viewer, topped with a slumping, viscous form—is among the most fully realized examples of the artist’s signature language of domestic objects turned uncanny.
Born in Miami in 1991 to a Haitian family, de Othello has emerged as one of the most closely watched ceramists of his generation. His practice centers on the transformation of everyday objects such as fans, clocks, and telephones, rendered in clay and animated with an uncanny, psychically charged presence. He was selected for the 2022 Whitney Biennial and is represented by Jessica Silverman in San Francisco and Karma in New York.
