Untitled (Yellow and Blue)

Untitled (Yellow and Blue): Introduction

Sotheby's identifies Untitled (Yellow and Blue) as a 1954 oil painting on canvas measuring 242.9 × 186.7 cm. Its 2015 and 2024 lot records give Rothko estate number 5157.54 and quote David Anfam's catalogue raisonné as no. 512, page 394.^[1][3] These identifiers are stronger than the short colour title alone. The painting has also appeared as simply Yellow and Blue in a 1971 Yale Art Gallery checklist, a title variation recorded in the sale catalogues.

At a Glance

• ArtistMark Rothko
• Date1954 ^[1]
• MediumOil on canvas ^[1]
• Dimensions242.9 × 186.7 cm ^[1]
• CollectionPrivate collection (2015) ^[1]

Contents

1. Yellow and blue in a large format
2. Documented movements of the canvas
3. Public display across private ownership
4. A 2024 Hong Kong sale, with a catalogue discrepancy

Yellow and blue in a large format

The two named colours suggest an elementary contrast, but the painting's effect depends on scale, placement and transitions. At nearly 2.43 metres high, its colour areas occupy a substantial visual field. An auction photograph allows a reader to identify the arrangement, while the close edges and uneven surfaces call for slower attention. How broad is the interval between the areas? Does the surrounding ground unite them or set them apart? Such questions are more exact than attaching one fixed emotional label to yellow or blue.

Rothko's familiar format had emerged by about 1950, according to the National Gallery's chronology.^[2] His paintings of 1954 therefore show variation within a language rather than a repeated template. No. 1 (Royal Red and Blue) was made the same year but has different dimensions, title history and colour balance. The comparison helps separate two specific objects that share a blue component.

Sotheby's places the canvas within a relatively concentrated production year: its catalogue essay counts twenty paintings made in 1954 and identifies seven then in museum collections, including examples at the National Gallery of Art, Yale, MOCA Los Angeles, the Phillips Collection and museums in Rhode Island, Essen and Tehran.^[1] These figures are the auction house's 2015 synthesis, not a fresh census of Rothko's complete output. They nevertheless show why a single colour description cannot stand for “the 1954 Rothko.” The year encompasses works with different formats, palettes and subsequent collection histories. A close comparison should therefore name both objects and their dimensions before arguing that one develops an idea found in another.

The catalogue describes Rothko's 1954 Chicago exhibition and his exchange of letters with curator Katharine Kuh.^[1] Untitled (Yellow and Blue) is not listed as a participant in that particular exhibition in the lot's exhibition history. Its value to this page is chronological context, not an invented Chicago display record. The distinction is instructive: a major show can define how a year is remembered while other paintings from the same year acquire quite different public lives. Here those later lives include a Yale checklist, decades of NGA loans and a Venice exhibition.

Documented movements of the canvas

Sotheby's 2015 provenance begins with Rothko's estate and then Marlborough, before listing Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, François Pinault and the owner who consigned the work.^[1] These are historical steps as published for the 2015 lot, not a statement of who owns the painting now. The catalogue also records several extended loans to the National Gallery of Art between 1979 and 1998 and an exhibition in Venice in 2006. A privately held painting can thus have a substantial public display history. “Private collection” does not mean it has always been invisible.

The 2024 Hong Kong catalogue extends the trail beyond the 2015 sale. It repeats the estate number, dimensions, Mellon and Pinault steps, then explicitly lists Sotheby's New York on 12 May 2015, lot 11, followed by another private collection.^[3] Those matching identifiers connect the two auction appearances to one canvas. They do not name the 2024 buyer or establish ownership after the sale. The newer record also adds a National Gallery event that the earlier summary had not made clear: the painting was displayed during the opening dinner for American Art at Mid-Century 1 in 1973–74.^[3] This is a narrower claim than saying it was hung throughout the exhibition's full public run.

The 1971 Yale listing used Yellow and Blue, while the 2015 auction title includes Untitled.^[1] Such variations should be handled as recorded labels, not evidence that Rothko produced duplicate canvases. The estate number, dimensions, provenance and Anfam number connect the references to one work. A reader checking Anfam no. 512 on page 394 may be able to clarify how the catalogue treats those labels, but that page has not been read for this manuscript.

Public display across private ownership

Sotheby's lists three separate extended loans to the National Gallery of Art: 1979–85, 1988–91 and 1997–98.^[1] It also records the painting in the Gallery's tenth-anniversary East Building selection in Washington, and in François Pinault's collection exhibition at Palazzo Grassi in Venice in 2006. The latter catalogue included text by David Anfam. These records establish that a privately owned canvas repeatedly entered public art-historical contexts, including an Italian exhibition, but they do not mean it was continuously on display throughout each loan. This distinction matters for readers who encounter a familiar museum image and assume permanent museum ownership.

The NGA’s East Building in 2019. Sotheby’s records Untitled (Yellow and Blue) in the Gallery’s tenth-anniversary East Building selection and in several extended loans.
Photograph: Difference engine. Photograph remains CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized without cropping. ^[5]

The Palazzo Grassi listing is also a useful lead for the requested Anfam research: it points to a later published discussion by the catalogue raisonné author, separate from the 1998 entry. The text itself has not been consulted here, so no interpretation is attributed to it. The auction's documented exhibitions, title variation and estate number are sufficient to identify the work while keeping that further reading open.

A 2024 Hong Kong sale, with a catalogue discrepancy

The 2015 Sotheby's public lot page gives a $40–60 million estimate but hides its realised result behind login.^[1] The 2024 Hong Kong lot page likewise places the result behind login, but Sotheby's separate 27 November 2024 results article reports HK$252.5 million (about US$32.5 million) for Untitled (Yellow and Blue).^[4] This is a historical public-auction result, not a present valuation or the 2015 price. The 2024 lot's presale estimate was HK$225–275 million.^[3]

There is a notable error inside Sotheby's own 2024 reporting. The results article calls the painting a 1964 work, while its detailed Hong Kong lot record says 1954 and repeats the exact dimensions, estate number, title and Anfam no. 512 from 2015.^[1][3][4] The object records provide the stronger identity and date evidence; the results article is used only for the reported price. This is why a sale headline should be checked against the catalogue entry before it is used to rewrite an artwork chronology. The two-language lot record is particularly useful here: the English and Chinese descriptions both identify the work as made in 1954.^[3]

Sotheby's image and the painting itself remain under copyright. This site links to the lot page without reproducing the artwork. The catalogue raisonné citation is attributed to Sotheby's literature list rather than presented as a direct reading of Anfam. That distinction leaves room for a later check against the hardback and any updated catalogue notes.

Related works

• No. 1 (Royal Red and Blue) is a distinct 1954 canvas.
• No. 61 (Rust and Blue) belongs to the preceding year.
• Rothko's paintings surveys the period.

Frequently Asked Questions

References

1. Sotheby's, Untitled (Yellow and Blue), lot 11, 2015, including citation to David Anfam, Mark Rothko: The Works on Canvas (1998), no. 512, p. 394.
2. National Gallery of Art, “Mark Rothko,” artist chronology.
3. Sotheby's Hong Kong, Untitled (Yellow and Blue), lot 19, 11 November 2024, bilingual lot record with provenance, 1973 NGA event, dimensions, estate no. 5157.54 and Anfam no. 512.
4. Sotheby's, autumn 2024 auction-results article, reporting HK$252.5 million; its 1964 date conflicts with both Sotheby's object records and is not used as the work's date.
5. East Building of the National Gallery of Art, 2019.jpg. Photograph: Difference engine. Photograph remains CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized without cropping. Source · CC BY-SA 4.0.