Rene Magritte’s renowned 1954 painting, Empire of Light (L’Empire des lumières), made history on Tuesday by fetching over $121 million at a Christie’s auction in New York, setting a new benchmark for the surrealist artist.
Previously estimated at $95 million, the artwork surpassed Magritte’s prior auction record of $79 million, achieved in 2022.
According to AFP, after a spirited bidding session lasting nearly ten minutes, the painting was sold for an exact sum of $121,160,000.
This sale not only marked a record for Magritte but also established the highest price ever paid for a surrealist piece at auction, according to Christie’s.
The *Empire of Light* series, to which this work belongs, showcases Magritte’s fascination with contrasting elements, depicting a nighttime scene of a house lit by a streetlamp under a bright daytime sky.
The painting had been part of the private collection of Mica Ertegun, a celebrated interior designer and cultural influencer who fled communist Romania and settled in the United States.
Ertegun, who passed away in late 2023, was married to Ahmet Ertegun, the founder of Atlantic Records.
This record-breaking sale was a highlight of New York’s autumn art auction season, which has been experiencing a market slowdown since its peak in 2022.
Christie’s, owned by the Pinault family through their Artemis investment firm, reported $2.1 billion in sales during the first half of the year, a decline for the second consecutive year from its $4.1 billion peak in 2022.
In the same auction, Ed Ruscha’s 1964 pop art masterpiece, Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western Being Torn in Half, sold for $68.26 million, setting a new record for the American artist.
These remarkable sales underscore the continued allure of iconic artworks, even amid a softening global art market.
