Christie’s must have a lot of Major works for May because they just announced a big one and it’s a long way to go. Mark Rothko’s “No. 36 (Black Stripe)” is up, according to the NYTimes:

The painting, being sold by the German collector Frieder Burda, who has given it pride of place in his museum in Baden-Baden for several years, is estimated to sell for $30 million to $50 million.

“There’s a perception that these kinds of paintings come and they come regularly, but in reality they’re becoming more and more rare,” said Brett Gorvy, Christie’s worldwide chairman of postwar and contemporary art, adding: “The year 1958 was probably Rothko’s all-time high as a recognized artist.” (Major paintings from that year are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney, the Tate Modern and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.)

Rare Mark Rothko Painting Keads Christie’s Auction (NYTimes)