Video

Post-war art takes center stage in the upcoming spring art auctions in New York and with the market booming, new records are expected to be set for several painters including Mark Rothko. Auctions of Impressionist and Modern art, normally the biggest draw of the art season, begin next week at Sotheby's and Christie's. But at Contemporary art sales at the archrivals the following week, works by Rothko, Francis Bacon and Jackson Pollock are all poised to break the 27.1 million U.S. dollars post-war record set by a de Kooning last autumn. While prices for top later-20th century works have nipped at the heels of the traditionally dominant Impressionist and Modern works for years, they have rarely topped U.S. $20 million. This year at the Sotheby's Contemporary auction, Mark Rothko's "White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose)" is expected to top 40 million USD and Francis Bacon's "Study From Innocent X" is seen fetching in excess of 30 million dollars. While these high hammer prices are expected at the Contemporary sale, the highest estimated work at Sotheby's Impressionist and Modern sale is in the region of 20 million USD. Auction house officials at both Sotheby's and Christie's say several factors are driving prices at the upper echelons of the market for newer works. "There is certainly a scarcity in my colleague's field, Impressionists and Modern, with really truly extraordinary examples of 20th century art , although they have several in this sale as well a...