Magritte's 'L'empire des lumières' Fetches $121.16M at Christie's, Setting New Auction Record

At Christie's New York on November 19, 2024, René Magritte's 1954 painting 'L'empire des lumières' sold for $121.16 million after a 10-minute bidding war, establishing a new auction record for the artist and for any Surrealist work. The sale was part of the Mica: The Collection of Mica Ertegun Part I, which achieved $184 million with 100% sold by lot and value. The evening also included the 20th Century Evening Sale, which totaled $302 million, with Ed Ruscha's 'Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western Being Torn in Half' (1964) setting a new artist record at $68.26 million. Other notable results include a Magritte gouache on paper from 1956 selling for $18.81 million (a record for a work on paper by the artist), and two Joan Mitchell paintings from the Rockefeller University collection sold for charity, fetching $17.085 million and $9.38 million. The aggregate result for Christie's evening sales reached $486 million. The Mica Ertegun collection, assembled by the late interior designer and philanthropist Mica Ertegun (co-founder of MAC II) and her husband Ahmet Ertegun (co-founder of Atlantic Records), saw strong demand, with all lots covered by third-party guarantees or minimum prices. However, the 20th Century Evening Sale had 12 unsold lots (77% sold by lot, 88% by value), including works by Picasso, O'Keeffe, and Caillebotte. The record-breaking Magritte sale is expected to be the highlight of New York's auction week.