At Sotheby’s tonight all eyes were on a 1986 painting by Andy Warhol, “Self Portrait,” which sold for $32.6 million, more than twice its $15 million high estimate. The seller was Tom Ford, the fashion designer, movie director and collector; the buyer, one of six bidders by telephone.
One of Mark Rothko’s untitled abstract red canvases, this one from 1961, also went for a high price: $31.4 million, also to a telephone bidder. The painting was estimated to bring $18 million to $25 million. David Martinez, a Mexican financier, was the seller. Marguerite Hoffman, a prominent Dallas art collector, filed suit this week against Mexican financier David Martinez for failing to keep her 2007 sale of a star Mark Rothko painting a secret.
