PETALING JAYA: A yellow and blue Mark Rothko painting once owned by controversial businessman Low Taek Jho - better known as Jho Low - is expected to be auctioned off at Sotheby's in Hong Kong in November.
The abstract painting from 1954, Untitled (Yellow and Blue), is estimated to be worth between US$30mil (RM126mil) and US$45mil (RM189mil), according to news.artnet.com.
The work is the first Rothko oil painting offered at auction in Asia.
According to the website, the painting would appear in a Modern and Contemporary art auction on Nov 8 at Sotheby’s Maison, a 24,000-square-foot retail and exhibition venue that opened in July in the Landmark Chater mall in the city’s Central district.
It would be on display at the Maison from Friday through Sept 25.
This is not the first time that Untitled (Yellow and Blue), which resembles an inverted Ukrainian flag, has appeared at auction.
The oil painting, measuring about 8 feet tall (2.4m) and 6 feet (1.8m) wide, fetched $46.5mil (RM195mil) at Sotheby’s in New York in 2015, according to the Artnet Price Database.
Untitled (Yellow and Blue) was first acquired by the American philanthropists Paul and Bunny Mellon between 1970 and 71, soon after the painter’s suicide.
It was later sold privately to French luxury mogul Francois Pinault, the billionaire owner of Christie’s, according to Sotheby’s.
In 2013, the painting was one of many artworks acquired by Low.
Earlier this year, the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) ordered Low to forfeit over US$100 million in assets, including a luxury Paris apartment and works by Claude Monet and Andy Warhol, over his involvement in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal.
