Clyfford Still, born in 1904 in North Dakota, first arrived in New York after World War II and joined with the city’s most important Abstract Expressionist painters like Mark Rothko. Whereas Rothko’s canvases display resonant rectangles, Still choose jagged splotches of brilliant colors to express himself.
Before passing away in 1980 Still asked his wife to hold on to some of his earlier paintings just in case one day there will be built a museum for his works. This month, over 30 years since his death, Denver will open a Clyfford Still museum, opening day set for November 18.
Those paintings which Patricia Still kept were sold on Wednesday at Sotheby’s for $114 million, the proceeds of which will be given to the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver. Still’s works are rarely auctioned- only 11 works in the past ten years. When compared to Rothko’s works, which have come up for sale more than 100 times in the last decade it is easy to see why buyers pounced at this rare opportunity to purchase these paintings.
Four bidders at least were after Still’s painting entitled, “1949-A-No. 1,” but finally a telephone bidder won it for $61.6 million, about $25 million more than its pre-auction high estimate. This sale price surpassed the highest ever paid in the past for a Still painting, which was $21.2 million.
The other three paintings sold for $19.6 million, $31.4 million, and $1.2 million, totaling $114 million for the group of four.