A renowned painting by the Belgian surrealist René Magritte will be auctioned next week in New York, and is expected to fetch a record $95 million.
The painting, titled 'L'empire des lumières' (The Empire of Light) dates back to 1954 and features a solitary lamp post illuminating a darkened street, juxtaposed with a bright blue day-lit sky.
L'empire des lumières, Rene Magritte. Credit: Christie's
The collision of day and night in one moment is one of Magritte's most iconic subjects, and the painting is one of 17 versions painted by Magritte in different mediums (oil and gouache) and with slight variations.
The painting is being auctioned during a sale at Christie's on 19 November, and is expected to far surpass the previous auction record of £59.4 million ($79.8 million) for a similar work, Le Principe du Plaisir (1937), sold by Sotheby’s in 2022.
The artwork comes from the collection of the late Mica Ertegun, an interior designer and art collector.
