Paul Allen’s Barnett Newman Leads Sotheby’s $294 Million Sale

A monumental Barnett Newman canvas fetched a record $43.8 million at a $294 million Sotheby’s auction last night, as contemporary art prices rose with stocks.

“The speculative element is returning to the market,” said Jonathan Binstock, senior adviser in postwar and contemporary art at Citi Private Bank. “There’s more money to spend on riskier opportunities, ones that would have seemed unappealing just a few years prior.”