Rothko painting sets postwar record

updated 11:13 p.m. ET May 15, 2007

NEW YORK - The record price for postwar art was broken twice at a Sotheby’s auction Tuesday, first with a Francis Bacon work and later with a Mark Rothko painting, which went for almost $73 million, the auction house said.

The 1950 Rothko painting, “White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose),” of blocks of color, sold for $72.8 million to an anonymous bidder, Sotheby’s said.

Shortly before, a 1962 Bacon painting of a pope, “Study from Innocent X,” sold to an anonymous bidder for $52.6 million.

Slideshow   Celebrity sightings Nicole Kidman is pretty in pink at the "Nine" premiere, Will Smith attends the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, "It's Complicated" for Steve Martin and more. more photos

The previous record was held by a 1977 Willem de Kooning work of swaths of bright colors called “Untitled XXV,” which sold for $27 million at a Christie’s auction last November, Sotheby’s said.

Another work, an untitled painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat from 1981, sold Tuesday for $14.6 million, setting an auction record for the artist.

The sale prices include the buyer’s premium.

MORE FROM THE ARTS

3 generations of Wyeths to be sold in NYC

3 generations of Wyeths to be sold in NYC Charis Wilson, photographer’s muse, dies at 95 ‘The Gates’ co-artist Jeanne-Claude dies American artist Irving Kriesberg dies at 90 Paris exhibit serves revisions of Old Masters   Add The Arts headlines to your news reader: