Jackson Pollock drip painting soars to record $181.2M US sale at auction

A Jackson Pollock artwork highlighting the artist's famed painted swoops, swirls, pours and drizzles soared to an eye-popping sales record at a New York auction Monday evening, fetching $181.2 million US.

Number 7A, 1948, one of the American abstract expressionist's iconic drip paintings, nearly tripled the artist's previous sales record at auction, according to Christie's Auction House.

Considered the centrepiece of Monday's sale and a groundbreaking piece for the artist, the mesmerizing oil-and-enamel on raw canvas artwork — which stretches nearly a metre high and more than three metres wide — sold in less than seven minutes of furious bidding to an unidentified bidder for $181,185,000 (all figures US).

Monday's buzzy sale came after a 10-day public exhibition of the Pollock and other pieces at Christie's Rockefeller Center location, which drew nearly 20,000 visitors eager to take a peek.

Pollock painted Number 7A, 1948 when he was 36, less than a decade before his death, inside the barn at his Long Island home, near East Hampton, Christie's said. While most of his drip paintings went to museums, Number 7A, 1948 was the largest of these works to remain in private hands.

It was among 16 modern artworks being sold Monday evening from the private collection of the late S.I. Newhouse, the American media titan and co-owner of the Condé Nast media empire who died in 2017. The auction house previously sold other artworks from his collection, most recently in 2023.

Danaïde, a sculpture by Constantin Brancusi, joined the Pollock in crossing the $100 million threshold, ultimately fetching $107.6 million.

In total, Monday evening's sale of 20th century artworks from the Newhouse collection — which also included pieces by Pablo Picasso, Piet Mondrian, Joan Miro, Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns — saw all 16 lots sold for a total of $631 million, including auction house fees.

"We were pleased to see the enthusiasm of our team was matched by our clients and delighted by the eager and engaged bidding from start to finish," Paige Kestenman, Christie's co-head of the 20th Century Evening Sale, said in a statement.