Among a run of auctions happening in May during Sotheby’s Marquee Week is a special evening sale on May 14 dedicated to a selection of works from the private collection of renowned art collector, dealer and financier Robert Mnuchin. The sale features major works by artists Mnuchin championed throughout his lifetime, including Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline and Jeff Koons. The sale is led by Mark Rothko’s monumental 1957 canvas Brown and Blacks in Reds (est. $70/100 million). Robert Mnuchin: Collector at Heart, comprised of 24 works spread across several sales, is estimated to achieve upwards of 130 million.
Mark Rothko (1903-1970), Brown and Blacks in Reds, 1957. Oil on canvas, 90 x 60 in., signed and dated on the reverse: ‘MARK ROTHKO 1957’. Estimate: $70/100 million
A second Rothko, No. 1, from 1949 marks another pivotal moment in the artist’s evolution and has an estimate of $15 to $20 million. The auction house notes, “Distinguished by its bright, vivid palette, Rothko’s 1949 No. 1 dates to a critical year of transition in the artist’s practice, as he made the shift from the nebulous multiforms of the late 1940s to the iconic stacked bands of color that would define his mature output from the early 1950s onward.”
The works on offer May 14 also include examples spanning four decades of de Kooning’s career from the 1950s to 1980s, led by the artist’s 1983 Untitled XLII, which Sotheby’s describes as “a superb example of his late, lyrical style distinguished by fluid passages of blue, red, pink and violet.” The piece is making its auction debut and considered the most significant work from de Kooning’s final decade to appear since Untitled IV achieved over $18.9 million in the landmark Macklow Collection sale in November 2021.
Willem de Kooning (1904-1997), Untitled XLII, 1983, oil on canvas 80 x 70 in. Estimate: $9/12 million
Jeff Koons, Louis XIV, 1986. Stainless steel, 46 x 27 x 15 in. Artist’s proof from an edition of three plus one artist’s proof. Estimate: $7/10 million
After more than two decades in Mnuchin’s private collection, Kline’s Harleman will emerge onto the market in another sale highlight. “Harleman is the finest work by the artist to come to auction in a decade,” notes a Sotheby’s specialist. “Executed in 1960, the work is a monumental example of the artist’s seminal black-and-white paintings, which rank among the most iconic achievements of abstract expressionism…The work subtly anchors his radical abstractions in the figures and places of his Pennsylvania hometown.”
Robert Mnuchin was among Jeff Koons’ earliest supporters. The artist will be represented by Louis XIV, 1986, a piece from his celebrated Statuary series. “Koons first adopted his signature polished stainless steel in this seminal body of work, which would become synonymous with his practice,” shares Sothebys. “Inspired by a fiberglass bust the artist encountered on Canal Street, Louis XIV marks Koon’s first direct engagement with canonical ‘high’ art. Moving beyond domestic commodities and advertising imagery, Koons turned to art history as the subject.”
Franz Kline (1910-1962), Harleman, 1960. Oil on canvas, 531/8 x 1021/4 in. Courtesy Mnuchin Gallery. © 2025 The Franz Kline Estate and Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Timothy Doyon. Estimate: $12/18 million
The present piece is the artist’s proof from an edition of three, plus one artist’s proof. The rest of the editions are held in museum collections, including the Nasher Sculpture Center, The Broad, and the DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art.
Visit the Sotheby’s website for updates and details. —
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