The Rothko Case was the dispute between the daughter of the painter Mark Rothko and the directors of his gallery Marlborough Fine Art . Knowing that he was going to die (by suicide in 1970) Rothko made gifts of certain key paintings that he had retained to his two children in the belief that his key patrons would pay inflated prices for the works following his death and therefore provide financial security to his children. However following his death Rothko's children were notified by his gallery that under the terms of the agreement made with them in 1956 they owned all of Rothko's paintings.

In the following case it was revealed that when still a struggling artist with a young family Rothko had done a deal with the gallery so that all of his paintings would be sold through the gallery in exchange for a set monthly fee. Although these terms were not unknown (Pablo Picasso had a similar deal with his gallery in the 1920s) what emerged through the trial was the extent to which the gallery had gone to defraud Rothko and his estate. The gallery had filtered payments for works through accounts in Switzerland and Lichtenstein to ensure that values were under-presented. During the 1960s this led to a huge underestimate by the artist on the value of his works - as a result he agreed to consignments of dozens of paintings to the gallery and collectors without appreciating the full value. Also it was revealed the gallery had been stockpiling works to ensure a heightened value in the market after his death. Certain directors at Marlborough were found guilty of defrauding the Rothko family.