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The biggest auction records of 2025 and 2026: Klimt at 236 million dollars, Pollock, Brancusi, Rothko and Miró

From Klimt's Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer at 236.4 million dollars in November 2025 to Pollock's Number 7A at 181.2 million in May 2026: the prices that reset the top of the modern and post-war market, and what they had in common.

Twenty minutes, six bidders, 236.4 million dollars. That is what Gustav Klimt's Bildnis Elisabeth Lederer took at Sotheby's in New York on 18 November 2025, according to Al Jazeera. No modern work had ever sold for more at auction. The previous benchmark for a 20th century picture, Andy Warhol's portrait of Marilyn Monroe, had fetched 195 million dollars in 2022.

Six months later Christie's answered. On 18 May 2026, in New York, the house sold the collection of the publisher S.I. Newhouse, who died in 2017, and three records fell in about an hour.

The headline lot was Jackson Pollock's Number 7A, 1948. The hammer came down at 157 million dollars, 181.2 million with fees, after roughly seven minutes of bidding against an estimate of about 100 million, Smithsonian Magazine reported. Pollock's previous auction record was 61.16 million dollars, paid for Number 17, 1951 at Sotheby's New York in November 2021 (HENI News). Nearly three times the old mark, in one evening.

Constantin Brancusi's Danaïde, a bronze from around 1913, made 107.6 million dollars, a record for the sculptor. His previous high was 71 million for La Jeune fille sophistiquée in 2018, according to Galerie Magazine. Joan Miró's Portrait de Madame K. (1924) sold for 53.5 million dollars, more than 13 million above his previous auction high. The 16 Newhouse paintings brought in more than 630 million dollars together.

Later that day, at a separate Christie's sale, Mark Rothko's No. 15 (Two Greens and Red Stripe), painted in 1964 and consigned by the collector Agnes Gund, reached 98.4 million dollars. It beat the Rothko record of 86.88 million set in 2012 with Orange, Red, Yellow. HENI News notes that Gund had bought the canvas from the artist and that it had never been offered before.

Look at the provenance and a pattern appears. Lederer is a family portrait with a documented history. Newhouse had bought Number 7A in 2000, for an undisclosed sum, and kept it for a quarter of a century. Gund owned her Rothko for decades. Buyers paid most for works that had been off the market for a long time and came with a famous name attached. Records are made by supply, not only by demand.

They also describe a small part of the market. A handful of lots a year clear 50 million dollars, and most come from single-owner sales prepared over months. For anyone who owns or wants a Miró, the useful number is less the 53.5 million than the steady flow of mid-sized results underneath it.

Unicorn Art Watch follows the auction prices of these artists lot by lot. Miró is also one of the 30 masters of Unicorn Art Club, where members commit capital to a single artist and the club buys one work through a dedicated vehicle. The guide linked among the sources explains how it works.

Investing involves the risk of losing capital.

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