The historic version sold this Tuesday in New York is the exact twin of “The Empire of Lights” from the Brussels Museum of Fine Arts, currently on loan to the exhibition Surrealism at the Pompidou Center in Paris. This “icon of surrealism” even made the cover of the catalog. On this 1954 version, highly sought after by collectors, Magritte painted the reflection of the street lamp and the facade in the water, which no longer appears on the “horizontal” version from 1962 sold two years ago.
In Venice
These versions of theEmpire of Enlightenment are part of an iconic series of 17 paintings, almost all different, that Magritte began in 1948 and continued in the 1950s and 60s. There we find this typical strangeness, a sky by day and a ground by night, with the only light from a street lamp, a play of shadows and lights which allows the magical, the dream, the timeless, but also fear because it is said that this very cinematographic painting inspired the film The Exorcist!
Magritte would have taken a street near Josaphat Park in Schaerbeek as a model and the subject would be linked to the poem The Egret by André Breton: “If only it was sunny tonight.”
Sotheby’s compared in 2022 the series of Empire of Enlightenment to that of Grindstones or Water lilies by Monet.
The first version, that of 1948, was purchased by Nelson Rockefeller. A version was shown at the Venice Biennale in 1954. To celebrate what was then the 30th anniversary of surrealism, the event was organized on the theme of “surreal taste”. The Belgian pavilion explored the fantastic in Flemish art from the 1500s to the 20th century, with a retrospective of 24 paintings by Magritte from 1926 to 1954 as its centerpiece. The enthusiasm aroused by The empire of lights posed a problem for Magritte who had promised it to three different buyers. Finally, it was yet another collector, Peggy Guggenheim, who bought it directly at the Biennale for a million lire.
Magritte then arranged to create three additional versions of The empire of lights in order to appease other disappointed parties. This work was created for the Belgian collector Willy van Hove. Another was intended for our Museum of Fine Arts.
Two other Magrittes from the collection were sold on Tuesday evening: The court of love (from 1960, sold for $10.5 million) and Memory (from 1945). At the same sale yet another Magritte, “La recherche de l’absolu” reached $8.5 million. Many other works from this collection have been sold including Hockney (sold for 19 and 9 million), Miro, Picasso, Ed Ruscha, etc.
The Ertegun couple
Designer, philanthropist, collector, Mica Ertegun, born in Romania in 1926 and died in 2023 at the age of 97, embodied style and sophistication for an entire generation. Having fled Romania, she arrived in New York and, in 1960, married Ahmet Ertegun (1923-2006), the co-founder and director ofAtlantic Recordsa famous record label.
The latter was the producer of numerous records and the author of numerous songs made famous by artists Atlantic. He also directed the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Ertegun was described as “one of the most important figures in the modern recording industry”. Under his leadership, Atlantic Records launched the careers of many jazz, blues, soul and rock artists, including Ray Charles, Led Zeppelin, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus etc.
In 2006, aged 83, he slipped on the floor during a Rolling Stones concert and died shortly after.
The couple had no children. A significant portion of the proceeds from Tuesday’s sale are earmarked for philanthropic initiatives. During his lifetime, Mica Ertegun supported the Graduate Scholarship Programme in the Humanities at the University of Oxford, Jazz at Lincoln Centerthe World Monument Fundetc.
