'No. 20 (Yellow Expanse)' by Mark Rothko
- Selling price: $200 million
- Inflation-adjusted price: $233.2 million
- Painted in: 1953
- Sold in: 2014
At 10 feet tall and 15 feet wide, Rothko's luminous 'No. 20 (Yellow Expanse)' was sold via a private sale. The abstract piece belonged to Rachel Lambert "Bunny" Mellon, an American horticulturist, philanthropist, art collector, and wife of philanthropist Paul Mellon.
Mellon is responsible for helping Jackie Kennedy, a close friend, redesign the famous White House Rose Garden. Mellon had long championed Rothko and even purchased unstretched pieces from the artist's studio floor. According to Sotheby's, who helped facilitate the private sale, Mellon owned nine large-scale paintings from Rothko's estate.
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