new york:
A painting by René Magritte, the master of surrealism, sold for an astonishing $121 million at Christie’s auction in New York on Tuesday, breaking the auction record for one of his works.
Titled “L’empire des lumieres” or “Empire of Light,” this work of art is a stunning juxtaposition of night and day. Although Magritte depicts the sky as a bright, sunny spring-summer day, he depicts a dark, dank, suspenseful, almost eerie cityscape shrouded in mysterious darkness and shadow. A single streetlamp illuminates the side of what looks like a traditional English mansion, reflected in puddles left after a recent light rain.
The longer and closer one looks at the painting, the more one is drawn into its surreal nature, the intricate play between the artist’s lighting and the mysterious darkness that blankets the manor.
Photo credit: christies.com
Auction house Christie’s called it a “treasure” of its previous owner, the late American interior designer Micah Ertegun. It also said that a 1954 oil on canvas painting sold for $121.16 million, “setting a new world record for any auction of artist and surrealist art.”
This work of art is one of the largest of the 27 works, all titled “L’empire des lumieres,” and is a specialty of 20th century art for its scale, condition, and delicate detail. It is famous among the house. The auction house said the sale price far exceeded the painting’s estimated value of $95 million.
Other paintings up for auction included two other works by Magritte, “The Hours of Love” and “Memories,” which sold for $10.53 million and $3.68 million, respectively. The auction also featured works by famous artists Ed Ruscha and Max Ernst. 87-year-old British artist David Hockney’s painting “Still Life” also received a huge bid of more than $19 million.
According to Christie’s, René Magritte (1898-1967) explored the sunlit nightscape through 17 unique paintings throughout his career. The 1954 work in Mrs. Ertegun’s collection reflects the artist’s mastery of technique and penchant for making the familiar into the macabre. This work is considered the masterpiece of Magritte’s series, and for the first time introduced a body of water into the mystical streetscape.
