Christie’s to announce the sale of another Rothko for their May sales in New York. "No. 17" will be offered at the auctioneer's post-war and contemporary art evening sale on May 10 with a pre-sale estimate of $30 million to $40 million.
This particular one have two large color panes, one electric blue, and the other dark green, which are separated by a horizontal azure blue bar that bleeds into the neighboring areas. Rothko created it in 1957 during a short period when he used lighter coloration in his paintings, before he continued on to creating his famous, darker and intense, Seagram Murals series now found at the Tate museum in London.
The painting was also included in a Rothko retrospective that travelled across Europe Europe between 1961 and 1963. The opening at Whitchapel Gallery in London could be considered to be the first time that the British public encountered Rothko's work. This exhibition was essential to his career and helped in positioning Rothko as a leading figure of the Abstract Expressionist movement.
Last May, Christie's sold another of Rothko's paintings "No. 10" (1958) for nearly $82 million, $22 million above its 60 million pre-sale estimate. However, the auction record for a Rothko is for his "Orange, Red, Yellow." that sold for $86.8 million.