Field guide: post-war and contemporary masters

Artists, makers and objects named here illustrate the market we follow and what meets our criteria. They are not a list of Caldrion’s holdings or acquisitions. Price bands are rough, based on public auction results through mid-2026; private-treaty prices and today’s market can differ, so treat them as orientation, not valuations.

These are the post-war artists whose markets we follow most closely, grouped by movement, with the parts of each artist’s output that fall within our $250K–$10M+ band and the diligence questions that matter most.

Abstract Expressionism and its circle

• Franz Kline. His 1950s black-and-white oils on paper, often painted on telephone-book pages or newsprint, fall squarely in the band, roughly mid-six figures to low millions. Major canvases go far beyond it. Kline’s thick paint on cheap paper cracks and flakes, so the condition report and the way the sheet is mounted matter a great deal.
• Robert Motherwell. The Elegy to the Spanish Republic series (begun 1948, well over 100 versions) and the Open series (from 1967). Smaller examples commonly trade in the low-to-mid millions, collages for less. The Dedalus Foundation’s 2012 catalogue raisonné is the reference.
• Joan Mitchell. Her market rose sharply after the 2021–22 SFMOMA/Baltimore retrospective and the 2022–23 Fondation Louis Vuitton show pairing her with Monet. Small canvases and pastels fit the band. Major 1950s canvases and late diptychs usually exceed $10M.
• Mark Rothko. The classic canvases are far outside the band, but his late-1960s acrylics on paper trade from roughly $2M to over $10M. Two checks: whether the sheet was mounted on linen or board during his lifetime, and whether the color has faded.
• Willem de Kooning. The 1950s Women are out of reach. The loose late-1970s abstractions and spare 1980s “ribbon” paintings sell in the low-to-high millions, and works on paper start around $300K. Critics still debate the 1980s work, painted as his dementia advanced, which keeps prices lower. That is an opportunity or a risk, depending on your view.
• Helen Frankenthaler. Soak-stain paintings from the late 1950s to the 1970s, typically low-to-mid millions. Paint soaked into unprimed canvas discolors easily, so condition matters even more than usual.
• Sam Francis. The 1950s Paris-period paintings and the 1960s Blue Balls and Edge series. Works on paper start around $100K, and canvases run from about $1M to several million. His foundation publishes the catalogue raisonné.
• Clyfford Still. A pure scarcity case. Around 95% of his output sits in the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver, as his will required. When the city sold four works in 2011 to fund the museum’s endowment, they brought about $114M. Any well-documented work that surfaces is a trophy.
• Lee Krasner. The Umber and Night Journeys paintings (1959–62) and the Little Image series. Her museum profile rose with the 2019 Barbican retrospective, but her prices still trail those of her male peers, which is the opportunity.
• Philip Guston. He has two markets: the 1950s abstractions and the cartoonish late figurative work (1968–80). Late paintings run from high single-digit to low double-digit millions, and drawings start at a few hundred thousand. His retrospective was postponed in 2020 over its Klan imagery and opened in 2022, a reminder that institutional reception can shift.

Pop and post-Pop

• Andy Warhol. The liquidity order is 1960s silkscreen paintings, then 1970s–80s portraits and series, then works on paper, then prints. Within the band: small 1964–65 Flowers canvases; smaller self-portraits from 1967 or 1986; the Camouflage, Shadows, Rorschach and Oxidation paintings; and the late Last Supper variations. The Warhol authentication board dissolved in 2012. A pre-2012 board stamp or an entry in the Phaidon catalogue raisonné is effectively required.
• Roy Lichtenstein. The Brushstrokes (1965–66, revisited in the 1980s), Reflections (1988–90), Interiors (1990s) and late Chinese-style landscapes (1996–97). Collectors also prize his preparatory drawings because they show his process. The foundation no longer authenticates, so the catalogue raisonné is the reference.
• Tom Wesselmann. Smokers (from 1967), Standing Still Lifes, Bedroom Paintings, and the 1980s–90s laser-cut steel and aluminum works. The metal pieces start in the mid-six figures, and prime Smokers and Great American Nudes reach the millions.
• Ed Ruscha. Word paintings, gunpowder and organic-material drawings (1967–71), Standard Station variations and mountain paintings. The 2023–24 MoMA/LACMA retrospective cemented his institutional standing. The drawings fit easily, while prime 1960s paintings exceed $10M.
• Robert Rauschenberg. The 1960s silkscreen paintings sell for eight figures. Later series such as the Spreads, Jammers, Cardboards and Gluts fall within the band and remain relatively undervalued.
• Jasper Johns. Major canvases are far beyond the band, so drawings and unique works on paper are the realistic target. The 2021 Whitney/Philadelphia twin retrospective and a complete catalogue raisonné give unusually strong documentation.
• David Hockney. A pool painting set a $90.3M record in 2018. Drawings, the 2000s Yorkshire landscapes and smaller portraits fall within the band. He’s prolific, though: the iPad drawings and editioned prints form a separate, much thinner market.
• Alex Katz. Flat, cool portraits and landscapes. The 2022 Guggenheim retrospective lifted demand, and good canvases sell in the low-to-mid millions.
• Wayne Thiebaud. Cakes, pies and gumball machines. Drawings and small paintings fit the band, and major canvases reach eight figures. His market strengthened after his death in 2021.
• Keith Haring. The subway drawings (chalk on black advertising paper, 1980–85) are well documented by period photographs and fit the band. Paintings on tarpaulin reach several million. His authentication committee also disbanded in 2012.

Minimalism and after

• Donald Judd. Stacks (usually ten units), “bullnose” progressions, and wall and floor boxes in aluminum, steel, copper, plywood and Plexiglas. Single boxes and small progressions sell in the low millions, and stacks reach roughly $5–15M. Fabrication history is critical. Judd publicly disowned works fabricated for the Panza collection without his supervision, and posthumous fabrication is not accepted.
• Agnes Martin. The late 60 × 60 inch grid and band paintings sell in the mid-to-high single-digit millions, and works on paper start around $500K. The graphite-on-gesso surfaces show every scuff.
• Dan Flavin. Fluorescent-light works, usually in small editions with signed certificates. The certificate effectively is the work: tubes can be replaced, the certificate can’t. Typically $300K–$2M.
• Sol LeWitt. A wall drawing consists of a certificate and a diagram, and trained draftspeople install it wherever the owner chooses. He also made open-cube structures and late gouaches. This suits a collection that lends to museums, since one certificate can be installed in different venues.
• Carl Andre. Floor pieces of metal plates or blocks; he died in 2024. Museum shows of his work have drawn protests over the 1985 death of his wife, Ana Mendieta. He was acquitted in 1988, but the protests matter for a collection that lends to museums.
• Frank Stella. The Black Paintings (1958–60) are rare. The Protractor series (1967–71) and the 1970s–80s metal reliefs are the realistic targets. He died in 2024.
• Ellsworth Kelly. Shaped canvases and two-panel color works, from about $1M to over $10M. His plant drawings sell below the $250K floor.
• Robert Ryman. White-on-white paintings, low millions upward. These are among the most condition-sensitive works in the category, since any mark on a white surface reads as damage.
• Brice Marden. The Cold Mountain-related paintings and calligraphic drawings. He died in 2023, and drawings fit the band comfortably.
• Richard Serra. His thick black paintstick drawings, not the torqued-steel sculptures, which need a sculpture park. He died in 2024.

International post-war blue chip

• Gerhard Richter. Small and mid-size squeegee Abstraktes Bild paintings sell in the low millions, and large ones reach $20M or more. The overpainted photographs mostly fall below the floor. He stopped painting in 2017, which fixes the supply. His online catalogue raisonné makes verification unusually easy.
• Alexander Calder. Standing mobiles and stabiles, from about $1M to over $10M. Every work needs a Calder Foundation registration number. Original paint matters, because repainted elements cut value sharply.
• Lucio Fontana. Concetti spaziali: the slashed canvases (Attese) and the punctured ones (Buchi). A single cut on a white canvas sells for roughly $1–2M, and colored canvases with several cuts sell for more. Fakes are common, so the Fondazione Lucio Fontana certificate is essential.
• Cy Twombly. Works on paper and smaller 1960s Rome-period works fit the band. A blackboard painting sold for $70.5M in 2015, so prime canvases are a separate world.
• Jean-Michel Basquiat. Drawings from 1981–85 sell from roughly $1M to over $10M. A 1982 skull painting set his record at $110.5M in 2017. His committee dissolved in 2012. In 2022 the FBI seized 25 purported Basquiats from the Orlando Museum of Art, the clearest recent warning about provenance.
• Yayoi Kusama. Infinity Nets and pumpkin paintings and sculptures, roughly $500K to several million. Her studio produces a great deal, so date and series matter, and a studio certificate is standard.
• Zao Wou-Ki. Abstractions from the 1950s through the 1980s, with very deep demand at Hong Kong auctions. A 1985 triptych set his record at about $65M in 2018. Good mid-size canvases sell from $1M to $10M.
• Pierre Soulages. The outrenoir (“beyond black”) paintings he made from 1979 on. He died in 2022 at 102, and good canvases sell in the low-to-mid millions.
• Alberto Burri. Sacchi (burlap), Combustioni (burned plastic) and Cretti (cracked surfaces). The 2015 Guggenheim retrospective lifted his market. Works are documented through his foundation in Città di Castello.
• Yves Klein. IKB blue monochromes and sponge reliefs. His career lasted only until his death in 1962, so supply is limited. The Yves Klein Archives certificate is standard.
• Lee Ufan. The 1970s From Point and From Line paintings, with a Guggenheim retrospective in 2011. A 2016 Korean forgery case, in which police and the artist disagreed about which works were real, makes paper trail and provenance especially important.
• Kazuo Shiraga. The Gutai group’s foot paintings. The Guggenheim’s 2013 Gutai survey built demand in both Asia and the West.

If you own or represent a work or object of this kind, see our criteria and what to send. We read every submission and aim to reply within a few business days of receiving a complete package, whether or not we proceed.

The field guide

1. What “A-grade” means, and where our criteria bite
2. Post-war and contemporary masters
3. Established mid-career artists
4. Collector automobiles
5. Watches
6. Fine wine and spirits
7. Emerging patronage

This guide reflects Caldrion’s views as of November 2026. It is not an offer of securities, investment advice or a valuation.