A 1955 blue-and-orange canvas by Mark Rothko sold tonight for $34.2 million at Christie’s International in New York at a contemporary and postwar auction that shattered records.

All-time high prices were set for painters Richard Prince, Lucian Freud and Ed Ruscha, photographer Thomas Struth, mixed- media maven Jeff Koons and Chinese contemporary artist Zhang Xiaogang.

The auction totaled $325 million, midway between the presale estimates of $271 million to $373 million. 

Posted: 11|15|07 at 2:15 pm. Filed under: US News.