Christie’s has this week announced that it will be offering celebrated American artist Jackson Pollock’s 1946 masterpiece Red Composition as one of the anchor pieces in its Evening Sale of 20th and 21st Century Art taking place next month.

The swoops and swirls of paint exhibited in the celebrated work come as a prominent example of some of the most iconic themes and techniques to come out of the later part of the twentieth century, alongside the likes of Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans and Willem de Kooning’s Women paintings.

“Christie’s is thrilled to be entrusted with the sale of this early and seminal painting Red Composition from the collection of the Everson Museum,” Barrett White, Christie’s Executive Deputy Chairman said in a press release. “The last painting the artist completed in 1946, Red Composition is an exceedingly rare opportunity to acquire a museum quality work by Pollock that marks the breakthrough of his fabled “drip” technique.”

According to White, the artwork was painted directly after Free Form, Pollock’s first drop painting, which is still in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In similar form, Red Composition continues to be a prime example of the artist’s signature flowing skeins of paint that his name has become synonymous with.

The painting will be put up for sale by the Everson Museum in Syracuse, New York as an attempt to diversify its collection while establishing a fund for more artworks by artists of colour, women artists, and under-represented emerging artists.

The revered work of art is estimated to fetch between US$12 to $18 million on the auction block next month. For more information or to register as a bidder, be sure to visit the official Christie’s website.

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