United States: $121 million for a Magritte painting at auction

“The Empire of Lights,” an iconic painting by René Magritte, was sold Tuesday evening at Christie’s in New York for $121 million [106 millions de francs suisses]setting an auction record for the artist, in the centenary year of the surrealist movement.

After about ten minutes of battle at Rockefeller Center, the work was sold for exactly $121,160,000 [107 024 868 francs suisses](commissions and fees included), a record sum for a work of surrealism, which also makes it one of the most expensive paintings in history at auction.

This painting is part of a series of eponymous paintings by the Belgian painter (1898-1967) symbolizing the play of light and shadow that he loved. It represents the paradoxical image of a house at night, lit only by a street lamp, under a blue sky during the day.

A highlight of this fall sales week

The painting inspired American director William Friedkin for the famous horror film “The Exorcist” (1973). It was part of the private collection of Mica Ertegun, an interior designer who fled communist Romania for the United States, where she became an influential figure in the arts world. Died at the age of 97 at the end of 2023, she was the wife of Ahmet Ertegun, the music mogul who founded the record company Atlantic Records, known for having “signed” Led Zeppelin.

The auction of this painting was expected to be a highlight of this week of fall sales in New York, during which hundreds of works of art will change hands for hundreds of millions of dollars.

The previous record for a work by René Magritte sold at auction was set at $79 million [69 millions de francs suisses] in 2022, again for a painting from the “Empire of Lights” series.

The art market has experienced a serious slowdown

The art market has experienced a serious slowdown since 2023, after a very prosperous year and a record-breaking festival in 2022 at the end of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The auction company controlled by Artémis, holding company of the Pinault family, announced sales of $2.1 billion [1,8 milliard de francs suisses] in the first half of 2024, down for the second consecutive year after the peak of $4.1 billion [3,6 milliards de francs suisses] reached in 2022, at the end of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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