Popular surrealist artist Rene Magritte has broken auction records with his painting “Empire of Light (L’Empire des Lumières),” which sold for over $121 million at Christie’s in New York on Tuesday, November 19.
The painting, titled “Empire of Light (L’Empire des Lumières),” reached a staggering price of $121,160,000 after a gripping bidding war that lasted nearly 10 minutes, surpassing its initial pre-auction estimate of $95 million by a significant margin.
This sale not only sets a new world record for Magritte but also for any surrealist artwork at auction, according to Christie’s. The highest price ever paid for a Magritte piece was $79 million, achieved in 2022.
The 1954 painting, depicting a house illuminated by a streetlamp under a bright, blue sky, is part of a series that explores the interplay between light and shadow. Previously owned by Mica Ertegun, a prominent interior designer and arts patron who passed away in late 2023, the work was a testament to Ertegun’s extensive collection. Ertegun, who was a refugee from communist Romania, was married to Ahmet Ertegun, the music mogul and founder of Atlantic Records.
The sale of “Empire of Light” marked a significant highlight of the autumn auction season in New York, which has experienced a slowdown in art sales compared to the previous year. Despite this, Christie’s, under the control of Artemis, reported sales totaling $2.1 billion in the first half of this year, although this figure represents a decline from the $4.1 billion achieved in 2022.
In addition to the Magritte sale, another notable transaction at the same auction was the sale of Ed Ruscha’s 1964 painting “Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western Being Torn in Half,” which sold for $68.26 million, setting a new auction record for the American pop artist.
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