By contrast, Sotheby's sale was strong in Minimalist works, which experts said before the auction they believed to be in current demand.

The Minimalist works, which were created by Marc Osborne in 1999, are dispersed throughout three adjoining spaces of the gallery.

For much of the exhibition, one is forced to group together in the mind's eye the show's otherwise dispersed early Minimalist works.

In those unusually Minimalist works, the clouds of rich moody color that had characterized Rothko's mature work had been blasted away.

In the late 1980s, Ray conceived Minimalist works using ink and wire.

The catch is that he plays with permutations of the same movements, just as in his Minimalist works.

Sandback is primarily known for his Minimalist works made from lengths of colored yarn.

Early Minimalist works revolved around what Steve Reich called "process," a systematic structure that unfolded gradually over the course of a composition.

The pleasure in the process of building is so apparent that there seems to have been a hunger to explore and reveal what the Minimalist works were determined to conceal.

But criticism aside, a number of the Minimalist works exist only as ideas on paper, a situation that will cause some knotty problems for the Guggenheim.