1951
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Abstract art II Rothko Early Rothko Pollock Magritte Modern China Rockwell Children
See also : Abstract art II Rothko Early Rothko Pollock Magritte Modern China Rockwell Children
1951 ROTHKO
1
1951 Two Dominants
2025 SOLD for $ 38M by Christie's
Two Dominants, dated 1951 by Rothko, is a fine example in the development of his signature abstract style opposing rectangles. It is subtitled Orange, Plum, Black.
The title indicates a dramatic confrontation between two fields, while a glowing effect is brought by the orange background, acting like a halo over a flame.
The black at the lower position is swallowing the plum with no view on the orange between them. The plum is a mingling of purple hues incorporating red, blue and pink in a variety of thinness of the brush stroke. Its edges are blurred and jagged in contrast with the heavy sharp lined black that stirs the overall viewing downwards. The whole may be interpreted as a fight between mythological order and inferno.
This painting had been started in 1950. At that time the artist was still working in medium size in his own apartment. It was exhibited at the Betty Parsons Gallery in March-April 1951 and referred as Number 4 when it was exhibited at the MoMA one year later.
This oil on canvas 170 x 140 cm was sold for $ 38M by Christie's on May 12, 2025, lot 44A. It had not been exhibited since 1973.
The title indicates a dramatic confrontation between two fields, while a glowing effect is brought by the orange background, acting like a halo over a flame.
The black at the lower position is swallowing the plum with no view on the orange between them. The plum is a mingling of purple hues incorporating red, blue and pink in a variety of thinness of the brush stroke. Its edges are blurred and jagged in contrast with the heavy sharp lined black that stirs the overall viewing downwards. The whole may be interpreted as a fight between mythological order and inferno.
This painting had been started in 1950. At that time the artist was still working in medium size in his own apartment. It was exhibited at the Betty Parsons Gallery in March-April 1951 and referred as Number 4 when it was exhibited at the MoMA one year later.
This oil on canvas 170 x 140 cm was sold for $ 38M by Christie's on May 12, 2025, lot 44A. It had not been exhibited since 1973.
2
No. 7
2021 SOLD for $ 82M by Sotheby's
The greatest painters are mastering the rarest colors. Mark Rothko went to a full abstraction in 1950 after trying for a short period to explain his floating rectangular forms as the actors of a staged drama expressing the basic human feelings.
Rothko got himself rid of such hermetic interpretations. His new target that the viewer gets immersed in the artwork in a sort of ecstasy was sufficient to offer a high number of possible color combinations.
In 1950 he was still trying to add some elements, such as the three lines in the mid block of the opus No. 5/ No. 22. The maturity of his unprecedented style is reached in the same year when only the rectangular blocks and their interstices are remaining, in a justified formatting. The colors are meticulously applied with the brush in multiple paint layers that leave some variations inside the globally monochrome blocks and on their fringed edges.
The target was ambitious to mesmerize the viewer within a mere display of colors. The artist appreciated that this effect could be only obtained in large sizes, narrow and tall for matching the proportions of the standing human body.
No. 7, 1951, is one of the deepest demonstrators of the new theories. This oil on canvas 240 x 140 cm had been exhibited at the Betty Parsons Gallery in New York as early as April 1951. Its saturated green, crimson and lavender do not differentiate in their contrast but constitute a warm and vibrant color composition.
This opus was sold for $ 82M from a lower estimate of $ 70M by Sotheby's on November 15, 2021, lot 10.
Rothko got himself rid of such hermetic interpretations. His new target that the viewer gets immersed in the artwork in a sort of ecstasy was sufficient to offer a high number of possible color combinations.
In 1950 he was still trying to add some elements, such as the three lines in the mid block of the opus No. 5/ No. 22. The maturity of his unprecedented style is reached in the same year when only the rectangular blocks and their interstices are remaining, in a justified formatting. The colors are meticulously applied with the brush in multiple paint layers that leave some variations inside the globally monochrome blocks and on their fringed edges.
The target was ambitious to mesmerize the viewer within a mere display of colors. The artist appreciated that this effect could be only obtained in large sizes, narrow and tall for matching the proportions of the standing human body.
No. 7, 1951, is one of the deepest demonstrators of the new theories. This oil on canvas 240 x 140 cm had been exhibited at the Betty Parsons Gallery in New York as early as April 1951. Its saturated green, crimson and lavender do not differentiate in their contrast but constitute a warm and vibrant color composition.
This opus was sold for $ 82M from a lower estimate of $ 70M by Sotheby's on November 15, 2021, lot 10.
3
No. 21, 1951/1953 Red, Brown, Black and Orange
2014 SOLD for $ 45M by Sotheby's
Mark Rothko considers the artistic creation as if it were a mythological tragedy, with a dramatic vision that joins the still lifes by Cézanne. In 1949, he suddenly finds his way by observing color studies by Matisse. He brings a symmetry of shapes that exacerbates the struggle for influence between the colors.
On November 11, 2014, Sotheby's sold for $ 45M Number 21, 1953, a painting in red, brown, black and orange, lot 17. Executed in 1951, this opus was referred as No. 21, 1951 when it was exhibited in 1952 at the MoMa, but it was signed and dated on the reverse by the artist in 1953.
This oil on canvas 242 x 163 cm is one of the last from the time when Rothko was still working at home. The orange and red areas are lavishly shaded at the top and bottom of the image. The darker center that grows up to the top at the edges is enclosing the spread of the glow.
In the following year, Rothko finally settles in a real artist's studio. He can then indulge more freely in his quest of the sublime. He becomes more demanding, especially on the lighting conditions in the exhibitions that should participate in subduing the viewer. His trend is now toward larger canvas with a further minimalism of the colored rectangles.
On November 11, 2014, Sotheby's sold for $ 45M Number 21, 1953, a painting in red, brown, black and orange, lot 17. Executed in 1951, this opus was referred as No. 21, 1951 when it was exhibited in 1952 at the MoMa, but it was signed and dated on the reverse by the artist in 1953.
This oil on canvas 242 x 163 cm is one of the last from the time when Rothko was still working at home. The orange and red areas are lavishly shaded at the top and bottom of the image. The darker center that grows up to the top at the edges is enclosing the spread of the glow.
In the following year, Rothko finally settles in a real artist's studio. He can then indulge more freely in his quest of the sublime. He becomes more demanding, especially on the lighting conditions in the exhibitions that should participate in subduing the viewer. His trend is now toward larger canvas with a further minimalism of the colored rectangles.
1951 POLLOCK
1
Number 4
2012 SOLD for $ 40M by Sotheby's
Number 4, 1951 is a great demonstrator of the most brilliant works by Jackson Pollock, with a variety of exciting colors that is not frequently the most visible feature for this artist .
Three techniques are brought together to create harmony within this small canvas, 77 x 64 cm, impregnated with aluminum paint.
Created by dripping, fine lines of different colors are seeking to exchange a message defaced by their complexity, in the tradition of the automatic writing of Dada. Five very shiny and pure colors, red, blue, yellow, green and ochre, compete to dominate that field without worrying about the lines. Black enamel spots are trying to maintain some balance in this fight.
Pollock has developed an entirely new technique of creation by which the progressing work guides the artist in a lengthy process which is achieved when the artist can not imagine a further improvement of harmony.
Directly by the disclosure of his act, indirectly by the obtained result, the work of Pollock had a considerable influence on the art of the second half of the twentieth century. The further step in the Abstraktes Bild by Richter will be to no longer need that first drawing which Pollock and Klein were hiding or blurring.
As we know, the frenzy of Pollock ruined his health. The first owner of Number 4, 1951, was the psychoanalyst who was trying to help him against alcoholism.
Number 4 was sold for $ 40M from a lower estimate of $ 25M by Sotheby's on November 13, 2012, lot 10.
Three techniques are brought together to create harmony within this small canvas, 77 x 64 cm, impregnated with aluminum paint.
Created by dripping, fine lines of different colors are seeking to exchange a message defaced by their complexity, in the tradition of the automatic writing of Dada. Five very shiny and pure colors, red, blue, yellow, green and ochre, compete to dominate that field without worrying about the lines. Black enamel spots are trying to maintain some balance in this fight.
Pollock has developed an entirely new technique of creation by which the progressing work guides the artist in a lengthy process which is achieved when the artist can not imagine a further improvement of harmony.
Directly by the disclosure of his act, indirectly by the obtained result, the work of Pollock had a considerable influence on the art of the second half of the twentieth century. The further step in the Abstraktes Bild by Richter will be to no longer need that first drawing which Pollock and Klein were hiding or blurring.
As we know, the frenzy of Pollock ruined his health. The first owner of Number 4, 1951, was the psychoanalyst who was trying to help him against alcoholism.
Number 4 was sold for $ 40M from a lower estimate of $ 25M by Sotheby's on November 13, 2012, lot 10.
2
Number 17 (black and white)
2021 SOLD for $ 61M by Sotheby's
The signature style of Jackson Pollock was to express the rhythmic motion of his body while he poured paint on the floor. The successive use of many colors on a same support led to an impression that he expressed the rich soil of Long Island, just as Monet had done in Giverny.
This achievement must nevertheless consider that one of his basic inspirations had been the marks left in the sand by the dance of the Navajo Indians.
He was right in considering that his creativity owed as much to the dance than to colors. In 1951 he starts a series of monochrome paintings by pouring a saturated deep black liquid paint on the canvas again laid across the floor.
As a consequence the mingling of the colors was superseded by patterns of curves, dots and smears which could lead him back to the weird automatic figuration of his beginnings.
A typical example is the opus Number 5 of 1951, black oil paint 147 x 141 cm, sold for $ 11.4M by Christie's on May 13, 2014, lot 30, titled Elegant Lady by his gallerist.
Black and White Painting III, enamel on canvas 140 x 125 cm also painted in 1951, features a human form with stretched arms and is tentatively interpreted as a crucifixion. It was sold for $ 5.2M by Sotheby's on November 4, 2015, lot 38.
The opus 17 of the same year did not reach such an enigmatic figuration, remaining a pure expression of Pollock's wrist mingling thick intense lines and angel's hair. This black enamel on canvas 150 x 150 cm was sold for $ 61M from a lower estimate of $ 25M by Sotheby's on November 15, 2021, lot 11.
Despite the commercial failure of a first exhibition, Pollock persevered up to a total of 33 black paintings. Were they indeed more than a refined form of Rorschach blots ?
This achievement must nevertheless consider that one of his basic inspirations had been the marks left in the sand by the dance of the Navajo Indians.
He was right in considering that his creativity owed as much to the dance than to colors. In 1951 he starts a series of monochrome paintings by pouring a saturated deep black liquid paint on the canvas again laid across the floor.
As a consequence the mingling of the colors was superseded by patterns of curves, dots and smears which could lead him back to the weird automatic figuration of his beginnings.
A typical example is the opus Number 5 of 1951, black oil paint 147 x 141 cm, sold for $ 11.4M by Christie's on May 13, 2014, lot 30, titled Elegant Lady by his gallerist.
Black and White Painting III, enamel on canvas 140 x 125 cm also painted in 1951, features a human form with stretched arms and is tentatively interpreted as a crucifixion. It was sold for $ 5.2M by Sotheby's on November 4, 2015, lot 38.
The opus 17 of the same year did not reach such an enigmatic figuration, remaining a pure expression of Pollock's wrist mingling thick intense lines and angel's hair. This black enamel on canvas 150 x 150 cm was sold for $ 61M from a lower estimate of $ 25M by Sotheby's on November 15, 2021, lot 11.
Despite the commercial failure of a first exhibition, Pollock persevered up to a total of 33 black paintings. Were they indeed more than a refined form of Rorschach blots ?
1951 L'Empire des Lumières by Magritte
2023 SOLD for $ 42M by Sotheby's
Surrealism is most often requiring an uneasy decoding. When practiced by René Magritte, it sometimes disturbs the viewer by the very simplicity of the message. La Trahison des Images painted in 1929 became the symbol of that language which is both offbeat and poetic.
With its title attributed by Paul Nougé, L'Empire des lumières reached a similar notoriety. The theme is commonplace : a night view of a suburb inspired by the Brussels district where Magritte resides.
The inhabitants are not visible but we imagine them behind the lighted windows. A lamppost illuminates the street with a questionable effectiveness. Beside these few glows the shadows are saturated. No contradiction of scale comes to puzzle the viewer.
Above this peaceful night the sky is blue, dotted with white clouds. The artist asks a poetic question for which he knows that there is no answer : are day and night incompatible or are they two complementary elements of real life ?
Nobody dared questioning if the Empire des lumières was not just a mere realistic twilight. It somehow illustrates a typically Surrealist verse by Breton : 'Si seulement il faisait du soleil cette nuit'.
The first oil variant of the Empire des lumières was completed in 1949. This canvas 49 x 59 cm was sold for $ 20.6M by Christie's on November 13, 2017, lot 12 A.
Magritte used to execute remakes of his preferred titles with images slightly different from one another. The 17 oil variants of L'Empire des Lumières are all different while maintaining the same theme of night and day in a quiet suburb.
The number III, oil in canvas 80 x 66 cm, was painted in 1951. It is departing from the first two by a setting in the distance that cancels the street and the streetlamp. Beside the dark foreground the row of a single house with silhouetted trees looks desperately flat. The ten apertures of the house in two floors are brilliantly lit from behind.
The residents are absent. Viewers looking for a human representation cannot any more focus on the lamp. They find a boulder on the lawn and an oversized tree beside the house. At the same time with La Forêt, Giacometti personalized the trees.
This version was sold for $ 42M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2023, lot 3.
The removal of the streetlamp was not convincing for the balance of the image. This equipment was restituted in all the subsequent oil versions.
With its title attributed by Paul Nougé, L'Empire des lumières reached a similar notoriety. The theme is commonplace : a night view of a suburb inspired by the Brussels district where Magritte resides.
The inhabitants are not visible but we imagine them behind the lighted windows. A lamppost illuminates the street with a questionable effectiveness. Beside these few glows the shadows are saturated. No contradiction of scale comes to puzzle the viewer.
Above this peaceful night the sky is blue, dotted with white clouds. The artist asks a poetic question for which he knows that there is no answer : are day and night incompatible or are they two complementary elements of real life ?
Nobody dared questioning if the Empire des lumières was not just a mere realistic twilight. It somehow illustrates a typically Surrealist verse by Breton : 'Si seulement il faisait du soleil cette nuit'.
The first oil variant of the Empire des lumières was completed in 1949. This canvas 49 x 59 cm was sold for $ 20.6M by Christie's on November 13, 2017, lot 12 A.
Magritte used to execute remakes of his preferred titles with images slightly different from one another. The 17 oil variants of L'Empire des Lumières are all different while maintaining the same theme of night and day in a quiet suburb.
The number III, oil in canvas 80 x 66 cm, was painted in 1951. It is departing from the first two by a setting in the distance that cancels the street and the streetlamp. Beside the dark foreground the row of a single house with silhouetted trees looks desperately flat. The ten apertures of the house in two floors are brilliantly lit from behind.
The residents are absent. Viewers looking for a human representation cannot any more focus on the lamp. They find a boulder on the lawn and an oversized tree beside the house. At the same time with La Forêt, Giacometti personalized the trees.
This version was sold for $ 42M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2023, lot 3.
The removal of the streetlamp was not convincing for the balance of the image. This equipment was restituted in all the subsequent oil versions.
1951 Saying Grace by Rockwell
2013 SOLD for $ 46M by Sotheby's
The Second World War is over but it will not be the last war. American people wish to be comforted. Their favorite artist is not an intellectual of the big city but Norman Rockwell who since 1916 draws with humor the varied themes of everyday life for the covers of the Saturday Evening Post.
Rockwell's images are the result of a lengthy preparation in consultation with the editor. He imagines the action, finds photos that he cut and assembles, and performs sketches before the final oil on canvas.
On November 24, 1951, Thanksgiving Day, when the magazine publishes Saying Grace, its publishers are aware that it is the masterpiece of the artist. The accompanying text clearly indicates that this grandmother who prays with her five year old grandson expresses the best that life can bring to the Americans.
Rockwell has placed the group in a restaurant with tight tables, from a low point of view inviting the observer to feel that he is sitting at the next table. Two young men complete this family, watching with sympathy the two main characters.
Four years later, the Saturday Evening Post asked its readers to identify what was the best cover by Rockwell. They praised Saying Grace.
In 1953, the oil on canvas 109 x 104 cm was given by Rockwell to the art editor of the magazine, Kenneth Stuart. The artwork remained in the Stuart family. It was sold for $ 46M from a lower estimate of $ 15M by Sotheby's on December 4, 2013, lot 10.
Rockwell's images are the result of a lengthy preparation in consultation with the editor. He imagines the action, finds photos that he cut and assembles, and performs sketches before the final oil on canvas.
On November 24, 1951, Thanksgiving Day, when the magazine publishes Saying Grace, its publishers are aware that it is the masterpiece of the artist. The accompanying text clearly indicates that this grandmother who prays with her five year old grandson expresses the best that life can bring to the Americans.
Rockwell has placed the group in a restaurant with tight tables, from a low point of view inviting the observer to feel that he is sitting at the next table. Two young men complete this family, watching with sympathy the two main characters.
Four years later, the Saturday Evening Post asked its readers to identify what was the best cover by Rockwell. They praised Saying Grace.
In 1953, the oil on canvas 109 x 104 cm was given by Rockwell to the art editor of the magazine, Kenneth Stuart. The artwork remained in the Stuart family. It was sold for $ 46M from a lower estimate of $ 15M by Sotheby's on December 4, 2013, lot 10.
1951 Cultivation on the Peaceful Land by Xu Beihong
2011 SOLD for RMB 266M by Poly
Xu Beihong, like Zhang Daqian, would place his realistic art under the double influence of Chinese tradition and worldwide modernism.
An ink and colors on paper executed by Xu in 1951 is on the theme of the farmer and his plow pulled by a buffalo. The scene also includes two other field workers, a large tree and a text inspired by a poem of the Northern Song Dynasty.
This painting executed during the Korean War is political: it wants to show the farm work as a symbol of peace while reminding that it is necessary to feed the army. It had been offered to Guo Moruo (Kuo Mo-jo), then chairman of the Chinese section of the Peace Council.
This work of exceptional size, 150 x 250 cm, was sold for RMB 266M by Poly on December 5, 2011.
An ink and colors on paper executed by Xu in 1951 is on the theme of the farmer and his plow pulled by a buffalo. The scene also includes two other field workers, a large tree and a text inspired by a poem of the Northern Song Dynasty.
This painting executed during the Korean War is political: it wants to show the farm work as a symbol of peace while reminding that it is necessary to feed the army. It had been offered to Guo Moruo (Kuo Mo-jo), then chairman of the Chinese section of the Peace Council.
This work of exceptional size, 150 x 250 cm, was sold for RMB 266M by Poly on December 5, 2011.
1951 Reclining Figure: Festival by MOORE
Intro
The horrifying shock of the Second World War marks a point of no return in history. Society and art must be rebuilt with new solutions freed from the references to the past. In 1949 the United Kingdom wants to demonstrate its ability to restart through a Festival of Britain to be held in London in 1951.
Henry Moore is in high demand in 1951. His sculptures of stylized human figures are both monumental enough and sufficiently neutral to fit into the urban spaces of postwar reconstruction.
A monumental sculpture is commissioned to Moore by the Art Council of Great Britain for the Festival. The artist takes very seriously that invitation to create a masterpiece and all the development of this project is filmed by a cameraman.
By simplifying the shapes, Brancusi had left assimilating his sculpture to Cubism. The painters had tried to blend human figure, landscape and still life into a kind of abstraction that did not dare to admit this qualification. De Kooning had color. Moore as a sculptor uses the hollow within the round.
Moore recognized as one of his major achievements the Reclining figure of the 1951 festival. The female form is recognizable. She is reclining on her back and begins some lifting on her forearms. Her legs have a realistic position but the belly is reduced to a frame. She is no more a woman but a harmony between material and space.
From the original plasterwork, this highly innovative park monument 2.30 m long was cast in bronze in five copies plus one artist's proof by the Gaskin foundry.
These reclining figures were the favorite theme of the artist. The character is waiting, like Beckett at the same time was waiting for Godot. Two interpretations are possible : anxiety or strength.
The straight head and the body firmly positioned on the forearms are rather suggesting hope, or a wish to get up, and are well suited for the optimism required for a national festival. This figure is in the reverted position to that of the dying warrior which will soon after be introduced into Moore's themes.
The question of anxiety or strength is nevertheless valid and also applies to Giacometti. Both artists had been attracted by the hermetic language of surrealism. They will however have a divergent evolution. Giacometti will remain expressive while Moore, dislocating the form into two or three pieces, will increasingly become abstract.
Henry Moore is in high demand in 1951. His sculptures of stylized human figures are both monumental enough and sufficiently neutral to fit into the urban spaces of postwar reconstruction.
A monumental sculpture is commissioned to Moore by the Art Council of Great Britain for the Festival. The artist takes very seriously that invitation to create a masterpiece and all the development of this project is filmed by a cameraman.
By simplifying the shapes, Brancusi had left assimilating his sculpture to Cubism. The painters had tried to blend human figure, landscape and still life into a kind of abstraction that did not dare to admit this qualification. De Kooning had color. Moore as a sculptor uses the hollow within the round.
Moore recognized as one of his major achievements the Reclining figure of the 1951 festival. The female form is recognizable. She is reclining on her back and begins some lifting on her forearms. Her legs have a realistic position but the belly is reduced to a frame. She is no more a woman but a harmony between material and space.
From the original plasterwork, this highly innovative park monument 2.30 m long was cast in bronze in five copies plus one artist's proof by the Gaskin foundry.
These reclining figures were the favorite theme of the artist. The character is waiting, like Beckett at the same time was waiting for Godot. Two interpretations are possible : anxiety or strength.
The straight head and the body firmly positioned on the forearms are rather suggesting hope, or a wish to get up, and are well suited for the optimism required for a national festival. This figure is in the reverted position to that of the dying warrior which will soon after be introduced into Moore's themes.
The question of anxiety or strength is nevertheless valid and also applies to Giacometti. Both artists had been attracted by the hermetic language of surrealism. They will however have a divergent evolution. Giacometti will remain expressive while Moore, dislocating the form into two or three pieces, will increasingly become abstract.
1
Artist's Proof
2022 SOLD for $ 31M by Sotheby's
The 2.40 m artist's proof with a dark patina was sold for $ 31M by Sotheby's on November 14, 2022, lot 128.
2
2016 SOLD for £ 24.7M by Christie's
A 2.30 m long bronze with a dark brown patina was sold by Christie's for £ 24.7M from a lower estimate of £ 15M on June 30, 2016, lot 8. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
With the same dark brown patina as the example above, a 2.45 m long bronze was sold for £ 19M by Christie's on February 7, 2012, lot 23.
With the same dark brown patina as the example above, a 2.45 m long bronze was sold for £ 19M by Christie's on February 7, 2012, lot 23.
