One of the paintings that René Magritte created as part of the series The empire of light It was auctioned this Tuesday at Christie’s in New York for 121 million dollars (about 114 million euros), a world record sales price for any work by the artist and any piece of the surrealist movement.
In this work, which belongs to a series of 27 oil paintings of the same subject, the painter represents a landscape of dark nature with a house in the center, dimly illuminated by a street lamp and a sunny sky. This empire of light It is one of the 19 pieces in the collection of interior designer Mica Ertegun, focused on works from the 20th century.
Los magritte were recurring in Ertegun’s repertoire: thus, The court of lovea painting in which the Belgian paints two doors (one leading to a sunny sky and the other to a red curtain) sold for $10.5 million, while The Memoirin which he draws a female bust with a bleeding eye, sold for 3.6 million. Also, a painting by Frenchman Amedee Ozenfant broke a record, selling for one million dollars, thus becoming the artist’s most expensive work to date.
The rest of the works that were auctioned did not reach prices even remotely close to the prized Magritte: Still Life on a Glass Tablea painting in which David Hockney paints a glass table full of objects with blue and orange tones, was crowned the second most expensive piece with a price of 19 million dollars.
A painting by Hockney was also sold in which the artist pays tribute to Pablo Picasso, representing part of the mural that the Spaniard painted in a castle in Provence (in France), for a price of nine million dollars. Collectors also had their eye on the painting. Paint by Joan Miró, sold for 4.8 million dollars, and a sculpture by David Smith, Tanktotem Xauctioned for $2.4 million.
Additionally, a painting by Ed Ruscha sold for $2.7 million, exceeding the estimated price, while a painting done by Picasso in Cannes barely exceeded the asking price and sold for $403,200. Christie’s will auction more works from Mica Ertegun’s collection this Wednesday; According to the house, a large part of the proceeds from these bids will go to charitable causes.