Whitney Museum to Sell de Kooning's Yellow River at Christie's

The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York is selling a painting by Willem de Kooning, the Dutch-born American artist. The work is Yellow River, from 1958, and it will go under the hammer at Christie's auction house on November 17.

Christie's expects the painting to sell for between US$12 million and US$18 million. That range is the auction house's estimate, its best guess at the likely price. The final bid is what counts, and buyers usually pay more once the auction house's fees are added on top.

The painting's route to the museum is a long one. ArtNews reported that a New York businessman, David M. Solinger, bought Yellow River from the Sidney Janis Gallery in 1959. Solinger later became the first president of the Whitney from outside the Whitney family, in 1966.

After Solinger died in 1996, the painting passed to his wife, Betty Ann Besch Solinger. She promised it to the Whitney in 2011. She died in 2022, and the museum formally received it as a gift in 2023.

Now the Whitney is selling it. The museum says the proceeds will benefit its collection, the group of artworks it owns and cares for. The Whitney will keep other de Kooning works. It still holds Door to the River from 1960.

For anyone who has never followed the art market, the basic idea is simple. Museums rarely sell works they own, and when they do, the money goes toward buying or caring for other pieces. The painting itself will now move from a museum wall to a private buyer, and the public will lose the chance to see it there.

Yellow River is one of the works that will be shown at Christie's before the sale. Viewing is open ahead of the evening auction, and the result will be published once the bidding closes.