1957
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : USA Rothko Rothko 1957-70 Calder Zao Wou-Ki Rockwell Johns Sport in art Cars Cars 1950s Cars 1956-57 Ferrari
See also : USA Rothko Rothko 1957-70 Calder Zao Wou-Ki Rockwell Johns Sport in art Cars Cars 1950s Cars 1956-57 Ferrari
ROTHKO
Brown and Blacks in Reds
2026 SOLD for $ 86M by Sotheby's
Mark Rothko's Brown and Blacks in Reds (1957), from the Robert Mnuchin collection and leading Sotheby's New York dedicated evening auction on May 14, 2026 (estimated at $70–100 million), lot 5, stands as a quintessential example of the artist's mature color field style at its height. This monumental canvas is one of only about fifteen large-scale works Rothko produced in 1957, most of which reside in major museum collections. It realized $ 86M.
Key Features
Position and Breakthrough
By 1957, Rothko had fully realized the breakthrough he began in the late 1940s–early 1950s: moving from the transitional "multiforms" (soft, irregular color patches with lingering biomorphic echoes) to his classic color field idiom. In this mature phase, simplified rectangular forms—soft-edged and luminous—became the sole carriers of meaning. No longer did he need explicit symbols or busy dispersal; pure color relationships, scale, and floating structure sufficed to convey "basic human emotions" such as tragedy, ecstasy, and doom.
1957 represents a peak year of confidence and productivity in this idiom. Rothko refined his technique for maximum optical and emotional impact: thinned pigments for veiling and luminosity, careful modulation of edges to suggest infinite space within flatness, and monumental formats that transform painting into an experiential "portal" or ritualistic encounter. Brown and Blacks in Reds exemplifies this maturity—its structured yet hazy bands achieve dramatic tension through color contrast and light, without narrative or gesture (distinguishing it from Action Painting contemporaries like de Kooning).
This period solidified Rothko's departure from Surrealist-influenced myth-making toward a direct, non-representational expression of the sublime and the human condition, influenced by Nietzsche, classical tragedy, and earlier masters like Matisse and Michelangelo.
Legacy
Brown and Blacks in Reds embodies the pinnacle of Rothko's postwar achievement and the broader Color Field movement. It demonstrates how color alone—layered, luminous, and scaled for immersion—could evoke profound spiritual and emotional responses, turning the canvas into a site of contemplation rather than illustration. The work's anticipation of the Seagram Murals links it to one of Rothko's most ambitious projects, where he explored darker, more enclosed environments for heightened drama (ultimately withdrawing them due to dissatisfaction with their commercial setting).
In Rothko's overall legacy, 1950s masterpieces like this one define his contribution to Abstract Expressionism: prioritizing inner experience, flatness, and emotional directness over Pollock's drips or de Kooning's gestures. They influenced later Color Field artists (e.g., Helen Frankenthaler, Morris Louis) and minimalist tendencies, while underscoring themes of tragedy and transcendence that deepened in his later, darker works.
Rarity enhances its stature—few 1957 monumental canvases remain in private hands, with most in institutions like the National Gallery of Art or MoMA. Its long-term presence in the Mnuchin collection (over two decades), combined with blue-chip provenance and exhibition pedigree, positions it as a museum-quality highlight. In the context of the May 2026 sale (paired with the 1949 transitional No. 1), it offers collectors a chance to acquire a fully realized classic alongside an earlier evolutionary piece, highlighting Rothko's deliberate progression.
This painting reaffirms Rothko's belief in art as a profound, non-decorative vehicle for the sublime—its reds and darks creating a dynamic "drama" that continues to move viewers decades later. The upcoming auction will test the market's valuation of such a rare, historically resonant example from his most coveted decade.
Key Features
- Composition: The painting features Rothko's signature soft-edged, floating horizontal rectangular bands stacked vertically. It typically presents a glowing, luminous red field (often described as warm crimson or saturated red) as the dominant ground or central band, contrasted with darker brown and black rectangular forms. These create dramatic tension through subtle layering, translucency, and "breathing" edges where colors seem to hover, pulse, or merge optically.
- Technique and Effect: Built with Rothko's meticulous method of thinned oil paint applied in multiple veiled layers, the surface achieves extraordinary luminosity and depth. The reds radiate warmth and intensity, while the browns and blacks introduce earthy, somber, or "chthonic" (underworld-like) counterpoints. This interplay evokes emotional depth—simultaneously vibrant and meditative, inviting viewers into an immersive, almost spiritual encounter.
- Scale: Approximately 90 x 60 inches (231.1 x 152.4 cm) or nearly 8 feet tall in some descriptions (vertical orientation emphasizing the stacked fields). Its size envelops the viewer, aligning with Rothko's goal of creating an intimate yet overwhelming presence.
- Palette Significance: The work showcases Rothko's mastery of red as a vehicle for emotional and spiritual intensity. Its warm reds and darker accents anticipate the deeper maroons and somber tones of his famous Seagram Murals (1958–1959), which were commissioned shortly after by Joseph E. Seagram & Sons (the painting's early provenance traces to around 1957 from that collection).
Position and Breakthrough
By 1957, Rothko had fully realized the breakthrough he began in the late 1940s–early 1950s: moving from the transitional "multiforms" (soft, irregular color patches with lingering biomorphic echoes) to his classic color field idiom. In this mature phase, simplified rectangular forms—soft-edged and luminous—became the sole carriers of meaning. No longer did he need explicit symbols or busy dispersal; pure color relationships, scale, and floating structure sufficed to convey "basic human emotions" such as tragedy, ecstasy, and doom.
1957 represents a peak year of confidence and productivity in this idiom. Rothko refined his technique for maximum optical and emotional impact: thinned pigments for veiling and luminosity, careful modulation of edges to suggest infinite space within flatness, and monumental formats that transform painting into an experiential "portal" or ritualistic encounter. Brown and Blacks in Reds exemplifies this maturity—its structured yet hazy bands achieve dramatic tension through color contrast and light, without narrative or gesture (distinguishing it from Action Painting contemporaries like de Kooning).
This period solidified Rothko's departure from Surrealist-influenced myth-making toward a direct, non-representational expression of the sublime and the human condition, influenced by Nietzsche, classical tragedy, and earlier masters like Matisse and Michelangelo.
Legacy
Brown and Blacks in Reds embodies the pinnacle of Rothko's postwar achievement and the broader Color Field movement. It demonstrates how color alone—layered, luminous, and scaled for immersion—could evoke profound spiritual and emotional responses, turning the canvas into a site of contemplation rather than illustration. The work's anticipation of the Seagram Murals links it to one of Rothko's most ambitious projects, where he explored darker, more enclosed environments for heightened drama (ultimately withdrawing them due to dissatisfaction with their commercial setting).
In Rothko's overall legacy, 1950s masterpieces like this one define his contribution to Abstract Expressionism: prioritizing inner experience, flatness, and emotional directness over Pollock's drips or de Kooning's gestures. They influenced later Color Field artists (e.g., Helen Frankenthaler, Morris Louis) and minimalist tendencies, while underscoring themes of tragedy and transcendence that deepened in his later, darker works.
Rarity enhances its stature—few 1957 monumental canvases remain in private hands, with most in institutions like the National Gallery of Art or MoMA. Its long-term presence in the Mnuchin collection (over two decades), combined with blue-chip provenance and exhibition pedigree, positions it as a museum-quality highlight. In the context of the May 2026 sale (paired with the 1949 transitional No. 1), it offers collectors a chance to acquire a fully realized classic alongside an earlier evolutionary piece, highlighting Rothko's deliberate progression.
This painting reaffirms Rothko's belief in art as a profound, non-decorative vehicle for the sublime—its reds and darks creating a dynamic "drama" that continues to move viewers decades later. The upcoming auction will test the market's valuation of such a rare, historically resonant example from his most coveted decade.
No 11
2013 SOLD for $ 46M by Christie's
In 1954 Mark Rothko is very irritated because his solo exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago is a great success. The public is still influenced by journalists and he fears that from then on nobody will understand the mystical meaning of his art or, still worse, will consider him as a colorist or a decorator. In the following year Yves Klein will have a similar reaction during the first exhibition of his monochromes.
Rothko's opinion is difficult to anticipate. In 1955 he was furious with an art critic who had declared that he was a leader of post-war art because he perfectly mastered the serenity of the symmetries. In 1954 he expressed a great satisfaction when another critic observed that the tension in the color relationships was so great that it gave the impression of an imminent outburst.
In his fame, Rothko became completely misanthropic and frustrated. In 1955, for the simple pleasure of getting angry with this former friend, Clyfford Still and Barnett Newman described his art as commercial and bourgeois. Subsequently Rothko worked hard on his paintings without resorting to words. He will never disclose the real causes of his unilateral abandonment of the Seagram Murals project in 1959, which was certainly due to his self-esteem.
The opus numbered 11 in the nomenclature of 1957 is in his signature style, with a background of glowing orange structures still livened up by the contrast with a luminescent rectangle. This oil on canvas 202 x 177 cm was sold for $ 46M by Christie's on November 12, 2013 from a lower estimate of $ 25M, lot 21.
Asking Grok to define significance in the career of the artist.
Grok thought :
The painting in question is No. 11 (Untitled) by Mark Rothko, created in early 1957. This oil on canvas work measures approximately 79½ x 69¾ inches (201.9 x 177.2 cm) and features a radiant composition of shimmering orange and vermillion rectangles, interrupted by a delicate band of nearly translucent white, set against a warm, fiery background. It sold for $46,085,000 at Christie's Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale in New York on November 12, 2013 (Lot 21), exceeding its presale estimate of $25-35 million.
In Rothko's career, this painting holds significant importance as a quintessential example from the height of his mature period in the 1950s, when he had fully transitioned to his signature color-field abstractions. By this time, Rothko had abandoned figurative and surrealist elements from his earlier work, focusing instead on large-scale, immersive compositions designed to evoke profound emotional and spiritual experiences rather than depict literal subjects—Rothko himself described such pieces not as "pictures of an experience" but as experiences in themselves. Painted amid the nuclear age's tensions, No. 11 (Untitled) captures the era's duality: the boundless potential of the human spirit alongside underlying dark forces, achieved through subtle tensions in color, brushwork, and form that create a sense of pulsating energy and inner light. It is the largest in a sequence of similarly hued orange paintings from 1957, a landmark year when Rothko refined his technique of layering thin washes of paint to produce ethereal, enveloping effects that draw viewers into a visceral, almost meditative interaction.
Drawing inspiration from epic figures like Nietzsche, Shakespeare, and ancient dramatists such as Aeschylus, Rothko aimed to convey universal human drama through overt simplicity and tense equilibrium, making this work a prime embodiment of his Dionysian "drama" of emotive color. Its prominence is further underscored by inclusion in major retrospectives, including at the Kunsthaus Zürich (1971), Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin (1971-1972), and The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York (1978-1979), affirming its role in solidifying Rothko's legacy as a leading Abstract Expressionist. The 2013 sale also highlighted the painting's market and cultural endurance, coming from a private collection where it had resided for two decades after a prior Christie's auction in 1992.
Rothko's opinion is difficult to anticipate. In 1955 he was furious with an art critic who had declared that he was a leader of post-war art because he perfectly mastered the serenity of the symmetries. In 1954 he expressed a great satisfaction when another critic observed that the tension in the color relationships was so great that it gave the impression of an imminent outburst.
In his fame, Rothko became completely misanthropic and frustrated. In 1955, for the simple pleasure of getting angry with this former friend, Clyfford Still and Barnett Newman described his art as commercial and bourgeois. Subsequently Rothko worked hard on his paintings without resorting to words. He will never disclose the real causes of his unilateral abandonment of the Seagram Murals project in 1959, which was certainly due to his self-esteem.
The opus numbered 11 in the nomenclature of 1957 is in his signature style, with a background of glowing orange structures still livened up by the contrast with a luminescent rectangle. This oil on canvas 202 x 177 cm was sold for $ 46M by Christie's on November 12, 2013 from a lower estimate of $ 25M, lot 21.
Asking Grok to define significance in the career of the artist.
Grok thought :
The painting in question is No. 11 (Untitled) by Mark Rothko, created in early 1957. This oil on canvas work measures approximately 79½ x 69¾ inches (201.9 x 177.2 cm) and features a radiant composition of shimmering orange and vermillion rectangles, interrupted by a delicate band of nearly translucent white, set against a warm, fiery background. It sold for $46,085,000 at Christie's Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale in New York on November 12, 2013 (Lot 21), exceeding its presale estimate of $25-35 million.
In Rothko's career, this painting holds significant importance as a quintessential example from the height of his mature period in the 1950s, when he had fully transitioned to his signature color-field abstractions. By this time, Rothko had abandoned figurative and surrealist elements from his earlier work, focusing instead on large-scale, immersive compositions designed to evoke profound emotional and spiritual experiences rather than depict literal subjects—Rothko himself described such pieces not as "pictures of an experience" but as experiences in themselves. Painted amid the nuclear age's tensions, No. 11 (Untitled) captures the era's duality: the boundless potential of the human spirit alongside underlying dark forces, achieved through subtle tensions in color, brushwork, and form that create a sense of pulsating energy and inner light. It is the largest in a sequence of similarly hued orange paintings from 1957, a landmark year when Rothko refined his technique of layering thin washes of paint to produce ethereal, enveloping effects that draw viewers into a visceral, almost meditative interaction.
Drawing inspiration from epic figures like Nietzsche, Shakespeare, and ancient dramatists such as Aeschylus, Rothko aimed to convey universal human drama through overt simplicity and tense equilibrium, making this work a prime embodiment of his Dionysian "drama" of emotive color. Its prominence is further underscored by inclusion in major retrospectives, including at the Kunsthaus Zürich (1971), Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin (1971-1972), and The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York (1978-1979), affirming its role in solidifying Rothko's legacy as a leading Abstract Expressionist. The 2013 sale also highlighted the painting's market and cultural endurance, coming from a private collection where it had resided for two decades after a prior Christie's auction in 1992.
No. 17
2016 SOLD for $ 32.6M by Christie's
Mark Rothko is a philosopher of emotion. The colors oppose together like in a composition by Cézanne. No shape is recognizable and the general structure of the abstraction varies relatively little. Each color has its own emotional properties.
The blocks are carefully filled. In 1957, the control of his technique is total. The intensity of the hue in each zone is gradual by a painstaking application of matte or glossy pigments in successive veils. The position of the blue plays a disruptive role that excites the emotion.
He seeks again and again to reveal the forces of pain, violence, tragedy and ecstasy. Also in 1957 he begins to express an intense emotion through dark colors.
On May 10, 2016, Christie's sold for $ 32.6M No. 17 from 1957, oil on canvas 233 x 177 cm, lot 17 B. Its subtitle Green on Blue on Blue is revealing about the exceptional subtlety of this opus. Please watch the video shared by Christie's.
The two green areas, or more exactly verdant, of unequal heights occupy the largest part of the surface, positioned over a thin cobalt blue rim. They are separated by a thin azure blue strip which has been entirely framed in a royal blue window.
The catalog reminds the consciousness of Rothko into his own art : "The people who weep before my paintings are having the same religious experience I had when I painted them". Pollock had expressed the soil. With No. 17 of 1957, Rothko communicates with the viewer by using the colors of vegetation and sky in a geometry and proportions that resolutely reject any figurative interpretation.
Grok thought :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc Apr 1, 2016
Rothko’s No. 17 (est: $30-40 million) leads our May 10 Post-War + Contemporary sale.
The blocks are carefully filled. In 1957, the control of his technique is total. The intensity of the hue in each zone is gradual by a painstaking application of matte or glossy pigments in successive veils. The position of the blue plays a disruptive role that excites the emotion.
He seeks again and again to reveal the forces of pain, violence, tragedy and ecstasy. Also in 1957 he begins to express an intense emotion through dark colors.
On May 10, 2016, Christie's sold for $ 32.6M No. 17 from 1957, oil on canvas 233 x 177 cm, lot 17 B. Its subtitle Green on Blue on Blue is revealing about the exceptional subtlety of this opus. Please watch the video shared by Christie's.
The two green areas, or more exactly verdant, of unequal heights occupy the largest part of the surface, positioned over a thin cobalt blue rim. They are separated by a thin azure blue strip which has been entirely framed in a royal blue window.
The catalog reminds the consciousness of Rothko into his own art : "The people who weep before my paintings are having the same religious experience I had when I painted them". Pollock had expressed the soil. With No. 17 of 1957, Rothko communicates with the viewer by using the colors of vegetation and sky in a geometry and proportions that resolutely reject any figurative interpretation.
Grok thought :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc Apr 1, 2016
Rothko’s No. 17 (est: $30-40 million) leads our May 10 Post-War + Contemporary sale.
- Christie's 2016 post promotes Mark Rothko's 1957 abstract oil "No. 17," a color field painting featuring hazy green upper and blue lower sections, estimated at $30-40 million for their May 10 Post-War and Contemporary sale.
- The work sold for $32.6 million at auction, aligning with estimates and helping the event total $318 million, highlighting Rothko's market strength amid rising demand for abstract expressionism.
- Rothko's pieces, rooted in evoking subconscious emotions through scale and color, exemplify post-WWII art trends; peer-reviewed art market studies show his average sale prices tripled from 2000 to 2016 due to institutional collecting.
Saffron
2017 SOLD for $ 32.4M by Christie's
Painted in 1957, a smaller size oil on canvas 176 x 136 cm titled Saffron expresses through vivid colors the sublime desired by Rothko.
Here the intense saffron blocks look like taking their own life, hovering and floating ahead of the canvas. The two blocks are made of multiple layers of thin washes. The glowing background seems monochromatic but is in fact obtained by a wide range of pigments coalescing red, white, yellow, gold and earth brown.
Saffron was sold for $ 32.4M by Christie's on November 15, 2017, lot 6 B.
Here the intense saffron blocks look like taking their own life, hovering and floating ahead of the canvas. The two blocks are made of multiple layers of thin washes. The glowing background seems monochromatic but is in fact obtained by a wide range of pigments coalescing red, white, yellow, gold and earth brown.
Saffron was sold for $ 32.4M by Christie's on November 15, 2017, lot 6 B.
1957 Action Painting by Kline
2012 SOLD for $ 40.4M by Christie's
Close to De Kooning, Franz Kline is the artist of gesture. He rejects representation and even color.
Kline draws tirelessly the sketches of his automatic gestures. When he is pleased with the balance of his abstract composition, he copies it on a large size canvas.
In this phase subsequent to spontaneity, he joins the meticulous work of the other abstract expressionists. The line is then enormously widened, with blurred edges that are reminiscent of the edges of Rothko's rectangles.
The result looks like some huge imperial Chinese calligraphy, but it is quite the opposite. Forms have no meaning other than the action of the hand that created them.
A large black and white painting made by Kline in 1957, oil on canvas 200 x 280 cm, with a nice balance of the opposition of forces, was sold for $ 40.4M from a lower estimate of $ 20M by Christie's on November 14, 2012, lot 17.
The expression of the forces in the art of Kline is announcing the minimalism. Like him, Yves Klein is an artist of action.
Kline draws tirelessly the sketches of his automatic gestures. When he is pleased with the balance of his abstract composition, he copies it on a large size canvas.
In this phase subsequent to spontaneity, he joins the meticulous work of the other abstract expressionists. The line is then enormously widened, with blurred edges that are reminiscent of the edges of Rothko's rectangles.
The result looks like some huge imperial Chinese calligraphy, but it is quite the opposite. Forms have no meaning other than the action of the hand that created them.
A large black and white painting made by Kline in 1957, oil on canvas 200 x 280 cm, with a nice balance of the opposition of forces, was sold for $ 40.4M from a lower estimate of $ 20M by Christie's on November 14, 2012, lot 17.
The expression of the forces in the art of Kline is announcing the minimalism. Like him, Yves Klein is an artist of action.
1957 Ferrari 315 S / 335 S
2016 SOLD for € 32M by Artcurial
The Prototipi class in endurance racing enables Ferrari to develop in the mid-1950s a range of powerful and spectacular vehicles made in very small quantities. The top goal is to win the Mille Miglia.
In 1956, Ferrari's efforts were rewarded by a return to victory with a 290 MM driven by Castellotti. Another 290 MM driven by Fangio went fourth. This latter car was sold for $ 28M by RM Sotheby's on 10 December 2015.
In 1957 the 315 S with a 3.8-liter engine and the 335 S with a 4-liter engine appear as the successors to the 290 MM. A 315 S driven by Taruffi won the race ahead of another 315 S driven by Von Trips. Unfortunately the most prestigious Italian endurance competition is forbidden by the Italian government following the accident of the 335 S of De Portago.
Other competitions continue and the cars are subject to the improvements necessary to maintain their competitiveness. The Ferrari 315 S which had been used by Von Trips receives a 4-liter engine, becoming a 335 S. It is also equipped with the fender pontoon front intended to reduce the overheating, which makes the glory in the same year of the 250 Testarossa .
After a very good competition history, the 315 S / 335 S enters the collection of Pierre Bardinon who restores it in its spider configuration while separately keeping the pontoon fender that still accompanies the car today. It was sold for € 32M by Artcurial on February 5, 2016, lot 170.
In 1956, Ferrari's efforts were rewarded by a return to victory with a 290 MM driven by Castellotti. Another 290 MM driven by Fangio went fourth. This latter car was sold for $ 28M by RM Sotheby's on 10 December 2015.
In 1957 the 315 S with a 3.8-liter engine and the 335 S with a 4-liter engine appear as the successors to the 290 MM. A 315 S driven by Taruffi won the race ahead of another 315 S driven by Von Trips. Unfortunately the most prestigious Italian endurance competition is forbidden by the Italian government following the accident of the 335 S of De Portago.
Other competitions continue and the cars are subject to the improvements necessary to maintain their competitiveness. The Ferrari 315 S which had been used by Von Trips receives a 4-liter engine, becoming a 335 S. It is also equipped with the fender pontoon front intended to reduce the overheating, which makes the glory in the same year of the 250 Testarossa .
After a very good competition history, the 315 S / 335 S enters the collection of Pierre Bardinon who restores it in its spider configuration while separately keeping the pontoon fender that still accompanies the car today. It was sold for € 32M by Artcurial on February 5, 2016, lot 170.
1957 Sunset by Twombly
2017 SOLD for $ 27.3M by Christie's
Cy Twombly is interested with the illusion of gesture in the art of Franz Kline. By chance in 1953 he spends his military service as a cryptographer. During this mission he begins to draw intertwined scribbles that are tentatively the hidden expression of a primordial feeling.
In 1957 Twombly spends the summer on the island of Procida in the Bay of Naples. Dazzled by the atmosphere that transcends time, he decides to live in Italy and meets his future wife in Rome.
His art finds at that time the level of complexity which had missed until then. For the first time he positions a proto-writing on a large surface and uses colored pencils. In the midst of the tormented lines created by his impulses a few structured words become readable.
This meaningless writing does not escape the graphology. The primordial art of Twombly will later be analyzed by Roland Barthes. A rising and colorful proto-writing is a mark of optimism or enthusiasm.
An artwork titled Sunset, 142 x 180 cm, made in Rome at the end of 1957, was sold for $ 27.3M by Christie's on November 15, 2017, lot 17B. Twombly reinvents here according to his own emotion the creation of the written language : his gesture generated the graphic layout and finally the letter.
The sequel will come soon when he will observe the indecipherable graffiti by which ancient human beings desired to record their ephemeral passions on Roman monuments. The expression of extreme feelings through abstract art becomes the thread of Cy Twombly's lifelong career. The terrible Roman mythology feeds his inspiration.
In 1957 Twombly spends the summer on the island of Procida in the Bay of Naples. Dazzled by the atmosphere that transcends time, he decides to live in Italy and meets his future wife in Rome.
His art finds at that time the level of complexity which had missed until then. For the first time he positions a proto-writing on a large surface and uses colored pencils. In the midst of the tormented lines created by his impulses a few structured words become readable.
This meaningless writing does not escape the graphology. The primordial art of Twombly will later be analyzed by Roland Barthes. A rising and colorful proto-writing is a mark of optimism or enthusiasm.
An artwork titled Sunset, 142 x 180 cm, made in Rome at the end of 1957, was sold for $ 27.3M by Christie's on November 15, 2017, lot 17B. Twombly reinvents here according to his own emotion the creation of the written language : his gesture generated the graphic layout and finally the letter.
The sequel will come soon when he will observe the indecipherable graffiti by which ancient human beings desired to record their ephemeral passions on Roman monuments. The expression of extreme feelings through abstract art becomes the thread of Cy Twombly's lifelong career. The terrible Roman mythology feeds his inspiration.
1957 Poisson Volant by Calder
2014 SOLD for $ 26M by Christie's
The creativity of Alexander Calder is only influenced by his limitless fantasy and humor. He is a mechanical engineer and his desire is to occupy space, as nature does. The leaves of his tree do not shade each other. He hangs art on the ceiling by a string so that it moves in the air stream.
Calder's encounter with the fish was inevitable. The animal moves freely in its aquarium like the leaf of a mobile. Its shape seen by Calder is childishly simple : the lines of the body cross to form the tail.
Around 1942 he hooks two filiform fish as mobiles within a stabile surrounding of water weeds. This composite work 52 cm high was sold for $ 2.53M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2018.
In 1946 he creates for Peggy Guggenheim's personal use a fish mobile which will become a subject of amusement in her cocktail parties.
Around 1952 he simulates the fish scales in many colors by tiny pieces of glass which he hangs in a structure of rods and strings. This mobile 112 cm long which is perfectly balanced under a single string was sold for $ 17.5M by Christie's on May 15, 2019.
With The Fish in 1957, 175 cm long hanging by three strings, sold for $ 5.1M by Christie's on November 10, 2015, the plaques of the fins form a rudder.
Poisson volant, also created in 1957, is resolutely funny. A ravenous fish in black painted metal has its mouth wide open to swallow a prey that floats in the air in front of it. The fish consists of a plaque for the body and of the tail which is a mobile in fifteen elements under three branches.
This hanging group 226 cm in length achieves its incredible balance with two strings at the muzzle and one at the middle of the back. It was sold for $ 26M from a lower estimate of $ 9M by Christie's on May 13, 2014, lot 8. I invite you to turn around this mobile with the video prepared by the auction house.
Evolution of Calder's Fish from the ca 1952 hanging mobile, sold by Christie's on May 15, 2019, lot 14 B for $ 17.5M, to the record setting Poisson Volant of 1957, sold for $ 26M by Christie's on May 13, 2014, lot 8.
The evolution of Alexander Calder's fish-themed hanging mobiles from the circa 1952 Fish (sold at Christie's on May 15, 2019, as lot 14B for $17,527,000) to the 1957 Poisson Volant (Flying Fish) (sold at Christie's on May 13, 2014, for $25,925,000, setting a then-record for the artist) reflects his broader artistic maturation in the 1950s. This period saw Calder shifting toward greater scale, refinement in materials, bolder abstraction, and increased technical sophistication while preserving the whimsical, kinetic essence of his fish motif.
The ca. 1952 Fish
Calder's encounter with the fish was inevitable. The animal moves freely in its aquarium like the leaf of a mobile. Its shape seen by Calder is childishly simple : the lines of the body cross to form the tail.
Around 1942 he hooks two filiform fish as mobiles within a stabile surrounding of water weeds. This composite work 52 cm high was sold for $ 2.53M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2018.
In 1946 he creates for Peggy Guggenheim's personal use a fish mobile which will become a subject of amusement in her cocktail parties.
Around 1952 he simulates the fish scales in many colors by tiny pieces of glass which he hangs in a structure of rods and strings. This mobile 112 cm long which is perfectly balanced under a single string was sold for $ 17.5M by Christie's on May 15, 2019.
With The Fish in 1957, 175 cm long hanging by three strings, sold for $ 5.1M by Christie's on November 10, 2015, the plaques of the fins form a rudder.
Poisson volant, also created in 1957, is resolutely funny. A ravenous fish in black painted metal has its mouth wide open to swallow a prey that floats in the air in front of it. The fish consists of a plaque for the body and of the tail which is a mobile in fifteen elements under three branches.
This hanging group 226 cm in length achieves its incredible balance with two strings at the muzzle and one at the middle of the back. It was sold for $ 26M from a lower estimate of $ 9M by Christie's on May 13, 2014, lot 8. I invite you to turn around this mobile with the video prepared by the auction house.
Evolution of Calder's Fish from the ca 1952 hanging mobile, sold by Christie's on May 15, 2019, lot 14 B for $ 17.5M, to the record setting Poisson Volant of 1957, sold for $ 26M by Christie's on May 13, 2014, lot 8.
The evolution of Alexander Calder's fish-themed hanging mobiles from the circa 1952 Fish (sold at Christie's on May 15, 2019, as lot 14B for $17,527,000) to the 1957 Poisson Volant (Flying Fish) (sold at Christie's on May 13, 2014, for $25,925,000, setting a then-record for the artist) reflects his broader artistic maturation in the 1950s. This period saw Calder shifting toward greater scale, refinement in materials, bolder abstraction, and increased technical sophistication while preserving the whimsical, kinetic essence of his fish motif.
The ca. 1952 Fish
- Materials and construction: Painted steel rod, wire, string, colored glass, and assorted small metal objects. Dimensions: approximately 15½ x 44⅛ x 3¼ inches (39.4 x 112 x 8.2 cm).
- Style and approach: This work belongs to Calder's mid-century series of smaller, intimate hanging fish mobiles (he made about a dozen fish mobiles from the 1940s–1950s). It uses a minimalist, almost childlike outline formed by a few intersecting painted rods to suggest the fish's body, open mouth, and tail. The "scales" are evoked through dangling fragments of colored glass and metal bits (often found or beach-collected objects), which catch light and create shimmering, iridescent effects as the piece moves. The artist's monogram "CA" hangs playfully from wire. This reflects Calder's earlier improvisational ethos—using humble, scavenged elements for whimsy, texture, and radiant shadows—rooted in his 1940s fish mobiles (e.g., the 1942 Fish at Seattle Art Museum, with pottery shards and mirror pieces).
- Theme and effect: Emphasizes delicacy, fluidity, and the magic of light play on found materials, capturing the darting, translucent quality of underwater life in a compact, jewel-like form.
- Materials and construction: Painted sheet metal, rod, and wire. Larger scale: 24 x 89 x 40 inches (60.9 x 226 x 101.6 cm).
- Style and approach: By 1957, Calder had evolved to bolder, more monumental compositions. The fish form is rendered through larger, flat painted sheet metal elements (in primary colors typical of his palette), shaped into fins, body, and tail with greater abstraction. The structure relies on elegant wire armatures and balancing rods for dynamic equilibrium, allowing sweeping, graceful motion in space. It moves away from found-object collage toward cleaner, industrially precise forms—sheet metal cut and painted for vivid flatness and durability. This aligns with Calder's late-1950s focus on larger-scale commissions and architectural integration (e.g., works like .125 in 1957).
- Theme and effect: Retains the fish's symbolic freedom and joy in nature but amplifies drama through size, bolder color contrasts, and expansive kinetic reach. The "flying" aspect highlights soaring, airborne motion over subtle shimmer, embodying Calder's mastery of balance between gravity and levity.
- Scale and ambition — From intimate (under 4 feet span) to commanding (nearly 7.5 feet wide), reflecting Calder's growing confidence in large-scale hanging mobiles during the 1950s.
- Materials shift — Away from eclectic found objects/glass toward uniform painted sheet metal, for cleaner lines, durability, and stronger visual impact in bigger spaces.
- Abstraction and refinement — Early 1950s works retain a collage-like, improvisational charm with literal "scales"; by 1957, forms are more stylized and planar, prioritizing pure kinetic poetry and spatial presence over literal representation.
- Market reflection — The 1957 piece's higher price ($25.9M vs. $17.5M) underscores its status as a peak example of Calder's mature style—rarer, larger, and from a period of heightened recognition (e.g., featured in his 1964 Guggenheim retrospective).
1956-1957 Et la Terre était sans Forme by Zao Wou-Ki
2018 SOLD for HK$ 183M by Poly
Born in a very ancient Chinese family, Zao Wou-Ki's father was a great connoisseur of art and calligraphy. Owning a painting by Mi Fu, he had also been one of the earliest collectors of Oracle bones just after their characterization as a primordial form of writing.
In France in the 1950s, Zao soon renounces figurative art and expresses feelings, nature and seasons by confrontations of colors. He adds accumulations of illegible calligraphic signs that stage a contribution from the Chinese civilization. Vert émeraude, painted in 1950, is one of the earliest examples of this duality. This 127 x 127 cm oil on canvas was sold for HK $ 71M by Christie's on May 28, 2016, lot 24.
The artist hesitates for a few further years between abstraction and a very stylized figuration. By his abstract art of the mid-1950s he expresses specific feelings detached from a figurative support and gives the key in his short titles. He sees the wind, the night, the dawn, the pond, the dust, the lightning.
Sous un grand arbre d'été, oil on canvas 92 x 73 cm painted in July 1954, is featuring a center of dense force that releases centrifugal debris which take on a dark red background the form of the archaic oracle bones collected by the artist's father. It was sold for HK $ 44M by Sotheby's on October 5, 2023, lot 2514.
At the end of 1954, his inspiration becomes cosmic. Completed in January 1955, Paysage dans la Lune is a revealing title : our planet is no longer enough for Zao. This 117 x 88 cm oil on canvas was sold for HK $ 47M by Sotheby's on October 2, 2016, lot 1017.
The centering of the energies comes soon to replace the volcanic composition of the previous example. Ailleurs depicts three centers of forces of equal size but unequal densities, one above the other on a vertical axis. This 130 x 97 cm oil on canvas painted in 1955 was sold for HK $ 52M by Phillips on May 26, 2019.
On September 21, 2019, Christie's sold for RMB 56M Voie Lactée, oil on canvas 162 x 114 cm dated 9.11.1956, lot 307. This opus is an encounter between night and day : the Milky Way composed of a myriad of pseudo-calligraphic centrifugal signs is encircled by the day sky in an elegant mingling of lilac, azure, aquamarine and turquoise.
From 1955 Zao regularly overpaints his colors with a pseudo-writing, most often without any similarity with the antique or modern pictographs, thus adding a dimension of mystery to his expressions of the forces of nature and the creation of the universe. These paintings are identified as the series of the Oracle Bones.
This gradual approach to cosmos and eternity culminates with Et la Terre était sans forme. Zao works in Paris but is increasingly nostalgic with his Chinese origins. He is tempted by the synthesis of the mystical beliefs of East and West. An oil on canvas 200 x 162 cm titled Et la Terre était sans forme, dated 1956-1957, completed in 1957 just before the break with Lan Lan, is the culmination of this creative impulse.
The title in French is indeed associated with the West and paraphrases the second verse of Genesis just before the appearance of light. In this phase the Earth is uninhabited but cannot be empty. Its creation is an explosion of colors.
The primordial world of Yin and Yang is another interpretation of the creation of forms. Since 1954 Zao was sprinkling his works with an illegible calligraphy inspired from the Oracle Bones, these earliest witnesses of Chinese paleo-scripture which were undoubtedly an attempt at communication with the heavens and anticipated the symbols on the Shang ritual bronzes.
The well-centered fireball of Et la Terre était sans forme is patterned with the Oracle bones signature signs of the artist but they are too small and too tight to invite for an understanding in the modern world. The primordial chaos is dotted with fragments that announce the Chinese paleography.
This painting was sold for HK $ 29.4M by Christie's on November 25, 2007 and for HK $ 183M from a lower estimate of HK $ 90M by Poly on March 29, 2018, lot 164. Please watch the video shared by Poly HK.
The mystical crescendo of Zao Wou-Ki is halted by his break in early 1957 with his wife Lan Lan. The hypersensitive artist is in shock. He leaves for a long stay with his brother near New York City where he discovers the spontaneity of abstract expressionism. A new phase of total abstraction will begin.
In France in the 1950s, Zao soon renounces figurative art and expresses feelings, nature and seasons by confrontations of colors. He adds accumulations of illegible calligraphic signs that stage a contribution from the Chinese civilization. Vert émeraude, painted in 1950, is one of the earliest examples of this duality. This 127 x 127 cm oil on canvas was sold for HK $ 71M by Christie's on May 28, 2016, lot 24.
The artist hesitates for a few further years between abstraction and a very stylized figuration. By his abstract art of the mid-1950s he expresses specific feelings detached from a figurative support and gives the key in his short titles. He sees the wind, the night, the dawn, the pond, the dust, the lightning.
Sous un grand arbre d'été, oil on canvas 92 x 73 cm painted in July 1954, is featuring a center of dense force that releases centrifugal debris which take on a dark red background the form of the archaic oracle bones collected by the artist's father. It was sold for HK $ 44M by Sotheby's on October 5, 2023, lot 2514.
At the end of 1954, his inspiration becomes cosmic. Completed in January 1955, Paysage dans la Lune is a revealing title : our planet is no longer enough for Zao. This 117 x 88 cm oil on canvas was sold for HK $ 47M by Sotheby's on October 2, 2016, lot 1017.
The centering of the energies comes soon to replace the volcanic composition of the previous example. Ailleurs depicts three centers of forces of equal size but unequal densities, one above the other on a vertical axis. This 130 x 97 cm oil on canvas painted in 1955 was sold for HK $ 52M by Phillips on May 26, 2019.
On September 21, 2019, Christie's sold for RMB 56M Voie Lactée, oil on canvas 162 x 114 cm dated 9.11.1956, lot 307. This opus is an encounter between night and day : the Milky Way composed of a myriad of pseudo-calligraphic centrifugal signs is encircled by the day sky in an elegant mingling of lilac, azure, aquamarine and turquoise.
From 1955 Zao regularly overpaints his colors with a pseudo-writing, most often without any similarity with the antique or modern pictographs, thus adding a dimension of mystery to his expressions of the forces of nature and the creation of the universe. These paintings are identified as the series of the Oracle Bones.
This gradual approach to cosmos and eternity culminates with Et la Terre était sans forme. Zao works in Paris but is increasingly nostalgic with his Chinese origins. He is tempted by the synthesis of the mystical beliefs of East and West. An oil on canvas 200 x 162 cm titled Et la Terre était sans forme, dated 1956-1957, completed in 1957 just before the break with Lan Lan, is the culmination of this creative impulse.
The title in French is indeed associated with the West and paraphrases the second verse of Genesis just before the appearance of light. In this phase the Earth is uninhabited but cannot be empty. Its creation is an explosion of colors.
The primordial world of Yin and Yang is another interpretation of the creation of forms. Since 1954 Zao was sprinkling his works with an illegible calligraphy inspired from the Oracle Bones, these earliest witnesses of Chinese paleo-scripture which were undoubtedly an attempt at communication with the heavens and anticipated the symbols on the Shang ritual bronzes.
The well-centered fireball of Et la Terre était sans forme is patterned with the Oracle bones signature signs of the artist but they are too small and too tight to invite for an understanding in the modern world. The primordial chaos is dotted with fragments that announce the Chinese paleography.
This painting was sold for HK $ 29.4M by Christie's on November 25, 2007 and for HK $ 183M from a lower estimate of HK $ 90M by Poly on March 29, 2018, lot 164. Please watch the video shared by Poly HK.
The mystical crescendo of Zao Wou-Ki is halted by his break in early 1957 with his wife Lan Lan. The hypersensitive artist is in shock. He leaves for a long stay with his brother near New York City where he discovers the spontaneity of abstract expressionism. A new phase of total abstraction will begin.
1957 The Rookie by Rockwell
2014 SOLD for $ 22.6M by Christie's
In 1957, Norman Rockwell completely controls his art which is similar to no other. His compositions are increasingly complex. He captures a theme that greatly appeals to the readers of the Saturday Evening Post: the occupations of young people. Rockwell's nice irony moves the parents.
Each composition is a long development that lasts several months, forcing the artist to work in parallel on all projects still to be published. He assembles a large number of black and white photos made or collected by himself, up to 100 for a scene with many characters. The final art in color supplied to the editor is an oil on canvas.
The cover page of 2 March 1957 is entitled The Rookie (Red Sox locker room). Amidst the star players of the baseball team, a tall 17 year old boy prepares for his first game.
The original painting 104 x 99 cm was sold for $ 22.6M by Christie's on May 22, 2014.
The cover page of 25 May 1957 is titled After the Prom. Two teenagers, boy and girl, relax sitting on bar stools after the ball of the students. The original painting 79 x 74 cm was sold for $ 9.1M by Sotheby's on May 21, 2014, lot 17.
Each composition is a long development that lasts several months, forcing the artist to work in parallel on all projects still to be published. He assembles a large number of black and white photos made or collected by himself, up to 100 for a scene with many characters. The final art in color supplied to the editor is an oil on canvas.
The cover page of 2 March 1957 is entitled The Rookie (Red Sox locker room). Amidst the star players of the baseball team, a tall 17 year old boy prepares for his first game.
The original painting 104 x 99 cm was sold for $ 22.6M by Christie's on May 22, 2014.
The cover page of 25 May 1957 is titled After the Prom. Two teenagers, boy and girl, relax sitting on bar stools after the ball of the students. The original painting 79 x 74 cm was sold for $ 9.1M by Sotheby's on May 21, 2014, lot 17.
1957 Gray Rectangles by Johns
2018 SOLD for $ 21M by Christie's
The world is changing and art will have to change as well. The work of art does not need to be figurative, nor to tell a story, nor to confront colors, and must not be a mere decoration. Young artists rediscover their prophets : the ready made by Duchamp, the assassination of the painting by Miro, the black square on white by Malevich, the path to the monochrome by Barnett Newman.
In 1957, more or less independently of one another, new teams destroy the differentiation between painting and sculpture, replace canvas and paper by ordinary materials, integrate objects into their works, attempt an abstract interpretation of poetry. These creators are named Burri, Fontana, Klein, Rauschenberg, Johns, Twombly, Cornell.
Jasper Johns conceals signs under a gray encaustic. Pigments bring a variety of texture into this neutral monochrome. Gray Numbers, 71 x 59 cm, was sold for $ 8.7M by Sotheby's on November 11, 2009.
Gray Rectangles, 152 x 152 cm made in 1957, was sold for $ 21M by Christie's on November 13, 2018, lot 19 B estimated $ 18M. Three aligned rectangles had been painted in the bottom of the image respectively in red, yellow and blue. Hidden under the wax, these three colors have left a lingering trace, turning this gray monochrome into a mysterious picture.
This large-scale artwork appears as seminal of this new art and its provenance is prestigious. It was bought in 1964 by Ganz to Castelli and in 1988 by Ebsworth in the auction at Sotheby's of the Ganz collection.
In 1957, more or less independently of one another, new teams destroy the differentiation between painting and sculpture, replace canvas and paper by ordinary materials, integrate objects into their works, attempt an abstract interpretation of poetry. These creators are named Burri, Fontana, Klein, Rauschenberg, Johns, Twombly, Cornell.
Jasper Johns conceals signs under a gray encaustic. Pigments bring a variety of texture into this neutral monochrome. Gray Numbers, 71 x 59 cm, was sold for $ 8.7M by Sotheby's on November 11, 2009.
Gray Rectangles, 152 x 152 cm made in 1957, was sold for $ 21M by Christie's on November 13, 2018, lot 19 B estimated $ 18M. Three aligned rectangles had been painted in the bottom of the image respectively in red, yellow and blue. Hidden under the wax, these three colors have left a lingering trace, turning this gray monochrome into a mysterious picture.
This large-scale artwork appears as seminal of this new art and its provenance is prestigious. It was bought in 1964 by Ganz to Castelli and in 1988 by Ebsworth in the auction at Sotheby's of the Ganz collection.
