A major painting by Mark Rothko sold for $85.8 million during Sotheby’s contemporary art auction in New York, helping drive total sales to $433.1 million.

The artwork came from the estate of legendary New York art dealer Robert Mnuchin, who passed away last year at the age of 92, and his wife Adriana.

The evening sale opened with 11 works from the Mnuchin collection, a group that had been expected to generate more than $130 million overall. Sotheby’s had reportedly guaranteed the sellers an undisclosed minimum amount for the collection before the auction began.

The featured group included works from several major figures in modern and contemporary art, including Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, and Pablo Picasso.

All 11 artworks successfully found buyers, with the collection ultimately achieving a combined total of $166.3 million including auction fees.

Art adviser Jacob King described the overall sale as solid but not especially electrifying, saying the market performance was “good” despite a lack of major surprises during bidding.

The strong Rothko result highlighted continued demand for blue-chip modern art even as the broader global art market faces economic uncertainty and changing collector behavior.

Robert Mnuchin was widely respected in the art world for building one of New York’s most influential galleries and representing important modern and postwar artists over several decades.

The Sotheby’s sale once again demonstrated the enduring appeal of museum-quality works by major 20th-century artists, particularly pieces with prestigious provenance linked to prominent collectors and dealers.