On 15th May, Sotheby’s spring evening sale of Contemporary Art in New York made auction history, bringing $254,874,000, the highest total ever for a sale of Contemporary Art (est. $196.8/ 265.1 million*). Two masterpieces shattered the previous record for a contemporary work of art at auction. At least five bidders competed for Mark Rothko’s White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose) from the collection of David Rockefeller, which sold for $72,800,000 to an anonymous buyer over the telephone to a wave of applause, setting a new record for a contemporary work of art at auction, as well as for the artist (est. in excess of $40 million). At least four bidders battled for Francis Bacon’s Study from Innocent X, 1962, which brought $52,680,000, a record for the artist at auction, selling to an anonymous buyer over the telephone (est. in excess of $30 million). Records were also set for works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Robert Rauschenberg, Tom Wesselmann, Richard Prince, Hans Hofmann, Dan Flavin and John Baldessari, among many others. Four lots in tonight’s auction brought over $10 million; six achieved over $5 million; and 41 sold for over $1 million. Nearly 70% of the lots sold this evening exceeded their high estimates.Tobias Meyer, Sotheby’s Worldwide Head of Contemporary Art, said: “Tonight was a fantastic evening – a record on many levels. It was a record for any Contemporary Art sale and also achieved the record for a work of contemporary art at auction – twice in the same evening – first with the Bacon, which was followed by the spectacular price achieved for the Rothko. There was international bidding tonight coming from a global client base that pursues great quality ferociously”．“In addition,” commented Anthony Grant, Senior Specialist of Contemporary Art, “in this remarkable sale we doubled our previous record total for Contemporary Art, $128.8 million fetched last May, and set fifteen artist records, the most notable of course being the Rothko and the Bacon.”A masterpiece by Mark Rothko, White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose), which came from the collection of David Rockefeller, prominent philanthropist, banker, statesman and patriarch of one of America’s most renowned families, brought $72,800,000. It was a new record for a contemporary work of art at auction and a record for the artist at auction, and it sold to an anonymous buyer over the telephone after competition from at least four other bidders. The pristine work, which had never before appeared at auction, was estimated to sell for in excess of $40 million, and at the post-sale press conference, Mr. Meyer confirmed that “going into the sale, the quality of the work had attracted interest from many potential bidders above the $40 million level.” Dating from the pivotal year of 1950, White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose) is the first fully-realized painting of Mark Rothko’s mature style – the canvas with which Rothko succeeded in articulating the painterly dialectic that he would maintain throughout the remaining decades of his career. The masterpiece had been acquired by David Rockefeller in 1960, at the recommendation of Dorothy Miller, the first chief curator at the Museum of Modern Art. He purchased it from Elizabeth Bliss Parkinson, niece of Miss Lillie P. Bliss, one of the three founders of MoMA in 1929 along with Mrs. Cornelius J. Sullivan and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., through the Sidney Janis Gallery, one of the premier New York dealers of mid-century American and European art.Mr. Rockefeller attended this evening’s sale and commented afterwards, “I am very pleased that it did so well. I have enjoyed living with it for 47 years. I am sorry to see it go, but I hope the next owner enjoys it as much as I have.” Another highlight of the sale was a striking masterpiece by Francis Bacon, Study from Innocent X, which sold for $52,680,000, a record for the artist at auction. Executed in 1962, Study from Innocent X comes from a series of paintings, the most important in Bacon’s oeuvre, based on Spanish artist Diego Velázquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X, 1650. Study from Innocent X, which comes from a Private Collection, was acquired by the present owner over thirty years ago. The painting, which had never before appeared at auction, was estimated to sell for in excess of $30 million.The May sale also featured an Untitled masterpiece by Jean-Michel Basquiat from his early graffiti period, painted in the seminal year of 1981, which sold for $14,600,000, a record for the artist at auction, to a dealer on behalf of a private collector. Dazzling in its execution, Untitled is an extraordinary work from the year when the artist first began to emerge as an enfant terrible of the downtown art scene in Manhattan. The painting, the most important and desirable work by Basquiat to appear at auction in recent memory, was gifted to The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, in 1985 by Barbara and Eugene Schwartz, New York, and was one of two major Basquiats from this period in the Museum’s collection. It was being sold by the Museum to create the Barbara and Eugene Schwartz Contemporary Art Acquisition Endowment Fund and was estimated to sell for $6/8 million.One of Robert Rauschenberg’s Combine Paintings, the masterpiece Photograph from 1959, brought $10,680,000, a record for the artist at auction, selling to a dealer on behalf of a private collector. As with his other Combine Paintings, Photograph vibrates with an intellectual vigor that opens our eyes to the chaotic beauty in the lives we live (est. $10/15 million).The sale also featured ten works of Contemporary Art from the Estate of Barbara Jacobson which totaled $10,630,740. Tom Wesselmann’s sensuous Smoker #17, 1975, which represents the penultimate development of the monumental, shaped-canvases of the Smoker series, sold for $5,864,000 to the Asian trade, a record for the artist at auction (est. $2.5/3.5 million). Iconic examples of Pop Art from the Estate included Warhol’s Large Campbell’s Soup Can of 1964, which brought $5,528,000, selling to a private collector (est. $3.5/4.5 million), and Lichtenstein’s Still Life with Green Vase of 1972, which achieved $4,296,000, selling to an American dealer (est. $3/4 million).Another work by Lichtenstein, Girl with a Mirror, 1965, elicited furious bidding, commanding $4,072,000 after participation from seven bidders, ultimately selling to an American dealer (est. $1/1.5 million). Other highlights of the sale included Willem de Kooning’s Figure in Landscape No. 1, painted in 1951, which sold for $4,072,000 to an American private (est. $3/4 million), and Peter Doig’s The Architect’s Home in the Ravine, 1991, which brought $3,624,000, selling to an American private (est. $1.2/1.8 million).