LONDON.- The Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale and The Art of the Surreal Evening Sale brought the curtain up on the 20th Century season auctions at
Christie’s in London, realising a combined 106,825,576 / $138,873,249.
The top lot of the night was Ren Magritte’s A la rencontre du plaisir, which sold for 18,933,750 (including buyer’s premium). Painted in 1962, the work combines several of Magritte’s most iconic motifs, and was purchased directly from the artist shortly after its creation. It had remained in the same family collection for over 50 years before being offered at auction for the first time in its history.
The second highest price came with Tamara de Lempicka’s Portrait de Marjorie Ferry, which produced a sustained bidding battle before selling for 16,280,000 — a new world auction record for the artist.
Marjorie Ferry was a British-born cabaret singer in Paris and this sumptuous 1932 portrait was commissioned by her new husband, a wealthy financier. It was later acquired by the fashion designer Wolfgang Joop.
Completing the top three was Alberto Giacometti’s Trois hommes qui marchent (Grand plateau), which realised 11,272,500. Conceived in 1948 and cast in bronze in 1950 in a numbered edition of six, it is among the earliest of the artist’s famous multi-figure works.
There were numerous other impressive results. George Grosz’s Gefhrliche Strae fetched 9,740,250, more than six times the previous world auction record for the artist, which was set in 1996. This is a rare survivor from a series of around 20 paintings of Berlin by night that Grosz painted in the final months of World War I, and brilliantly captures a city’s descent into moral and physical chaos.
A group of three Picasso still life paintings, executed in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s, offered insights into the artist’s state of mind at different points in his life. La cafetire (1943) achieved 1,811,250; Intrieur au pot de fleurs (1953) sold for 7,243,250; and Nature morte au chien (1962) fetched 4,385,576. They were among six Picasso works offered in the sale.
Towards the end of the auction, Femme sa toilette by Louis Anquetin (1861-1932) achieved 1,331,250, a world record price for the artist. Anquetin lived and worked in Montmartre, and counted mile Bernard, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Vincent van Gogh among his close friends.
The work was previously owned by the Belgian siblings Eugne and Anna Boch, who were leading members of the European avant-garde at the end of the 19th century. The result — more than double the high estimate — helped push the final total for the Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale to 62,890,326.
After a swift change of auctioneers, The Art of the Surreal Evening Sale got underway with strong results for works by Max Ernst, Francis Picabia and Salvador Dal. Sans titre, bateau voiles dans la baie de Port Lligat, a recently discovered work by Dal and a rare self-portrait, realised 1,811,250.
A la rencontre du plaisir, the outstanding Magritte from 1962 (shown above), was one of seven works by the artist spanning his career from 1928 to 1962. All seven sold, including Perspective: Le balcon de Manet, a 1949 painting that achieved 3,724,750.
The evening finished on a high note when Joan Mir’s Composition, one of a compelling series of three works the artist created on 27 July 1924, fetched 87,500 against a low estimate of 40,000. This brought the total for The Art of the Surreal Evening Sale to 43,935,250.
