New on Masterworks · In Memoriam

Pat Steir

1938 – 2026

Hi -,

Pat Steir, the American painter known for her poured “Waterfall” works, died this spring, closing a career that spanned more than four decades. She rose to prominence in the 1970s, won a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1982, and spent the rest of her life tipping thinned pigment down vertical canvases and letting gravity finish the work. Red is the first painting we have offered since her passing.

Her market was built well before this year. Steir's auction record stands at $2,295,000, set at Phillips New York in May 2018, and her annual auction turnover cleared $1.8 million in five of the seven years since, peaking at $5.43 million in 2019, and most recently at ~$1M last year, according to data tracked by Masterworks. That record has held unmoved through 2026. Each work is unique, but according to Masterworks' analysis, similar works by Steir have appreciated approximately 19.8 percent per year from 2005 to 2025.*

Red belongs to the body of poured paintings Steir produced from the late 1980s onward, built by tipping thinned acrylic from cans above a vertical canvas and letting gravity carry the pigment down.

A useful gauge of how much her market deepened sits in the lot count: in the early 2000s, fewer than five Steir works typically sold at auction in any given year. From 2017 on, that figure averaged more than ten, with a high of 20+ in 2019. More lots changing hands generally means more liquidity at the top and potentially more comparable transactions in the middle.

Steir was represented globally by Hauser & Wirth, which represents her estate. Her work is held in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, and Tate, London.†

Thanks,

The Masterworks Team

View offering circular here. Investing involves risk. Past results are not indicative of future outcomes.

Masterworks is providing this communication as an agent for its issuer entities, not Masterworks Advisers. Content does not contain legal, tax, investment advice, or a personalized recommendation. Masterworks is not a licensed broker-dealer by the SEC or FINRA.

Masterworks can only make and accept sales after an offering statement has been filed, and “qualified”, by the SEC. Any offers may be revoked before notice of qualification. Indications of interest involve no obligation. For further disclosure visit the offering documents filed with the SEC and Important Disclosures at masterworks.com/cd.

Museums and individuals referenced are not investors in Masterworks Offerings and were not compensated for their commentary. Their affiliation with artists is not an endorsement of Masterworks. Use of names and brands for identification purposes only.

*The auction record by Pat Steir referenced above is not included in the set of similar sales to the live offering (Masterworks Series 537). Art sales price data is comparative only. Each painting is unique and historical data is not a direct proxy for any specific painting or investment. Data represents whole art not an investment into our offerings which includes fees and expenses. Any comparative images are not currently live offerings and are provided for educational purposes only. We endeavor to include all relevant works and transactions in our analyses, but no definitive object-oriented database with all auction sales is known to Masterworks, and therefore, despite our best efforts the data may be incomplete or inaccurate.

†Museums referenced not investors in Masterworks offerings. Their affiliation with artists is not an endorsement of Masterworks. Use of brands, names, and logos for identification purposes only.

Masterworks, LLC is located at 1 World Trade Center, 57th Floor, New York, NY 10007.

To update your preferences or to stop receiving these emails, click here.