In the Spotlight

In the Spotlight

MAGRITTE MASTERPIECE SELLS FOR £59.4M

The work is part of a series of 17 oil paintings, also known as L’empire des lumières, which Magritte began in 1948 and returned to many times over the next decade. It was an immediate hit with both the public and collectors. This example is among the greatest in scale, and is the largest in a horizontal format. Sotheby’s

René Magritte’s L’empire des lumières was the star of Sotheby’s Modern & Contemporary Evening Auction in London on 2nd March, exceeding its estimate of £45m. Painted by the Belgian surrealist in 1961, it depicts a suburban street near Parc Josaphat in Brussels, where the artist lived in 1954 – an eerie scene that is said to have provided inspiration for the 1973 film The Exorcist. ‘A masterpiece of 20th-century art, L’empire des lumières brings together the two most fundamental elements of daily life – those of day and night – onto one paradoxical canvas,’ says Helena Newman, Chairman of Sotheby’s Europe and Worldwide Head of Impressionist & Modern Art.

The painting was created for Baroness Anne-Marie Gillion Crowet, the daughter of collector and Magritte’s patron, Pierre Crowet. It had remained in the family ever since, and was on long-term loan to the Musée Magritte in Brussels from 2009 to 2020 until the family decided it was time for the painting to make its market debut. Magritte first met Anne-Marie when she was 16 years old, but her likeness is found in a number of his earlier works. On meeting, Magritte famously said to her: ‘Tu vois, je te peignais déjà avant de te connaître.’ (You see, I was already painting you before I knew you.) She later became a friend of Magritte and his wife, and appeared in many of the artist’s most significant paintings.

Until now, the auction record for a work by Magritte was $26.8m (£20m) for Le Principe du plaisir at a Sotheby’s auction in New York in 2018. ‘We’ve seen the market for Magritte go from strength to strength over recent years, with demand from contemporary art collectors in particular increase,’ Helena says. sothebys.com

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