René Magritte’s ‘L’empire des lumières’ sells for record $121 million

As one of the largest paintings in a succession of 27 works all titled “L’empire des lumières” (“The Empire of Light”), the 1954 canvas is well known among 20th century art experts for its scale, pristine condition and subtle details.

The auction house described the artwork as the “crown jewel” of its former owner, the late American interior designer Mica Ertegun’s, collection –– part of which went on sale Tuesday. The auction also featured paintings by other modern giants like Ed Ruscha and Max Ernst.

The artwork depicts a house with a single streetlamp in front. The flame from the lamp lights up the entire canvas, including the dark trees –– almost black in color –– in the foreground, while the image is serenely reflected over a pool of water. Above the streetscape, a light blue sky dotted with puffy white clouds stretches to the top of the canvas.

The painting has been praised for its unique ability to juxtapose a nocturnal landscape and daylight –– a surrealist motif that Magritte explored in his landscape paintings for almost two decades.

“The motif is one of the few truly iconic images in 20th century art and the painting, particularly the sky and flickering light in the foreground,” said Max Carter, Christie’s Vice Chairman of 20th to 21st Century Art, in an email to CNN prior to the sale, adding that the work has an “extraordinary glow in person.”

The selling price, which smashed estimates, marks a bright spot amid a slowdown in global art sales and an art market marred by economic uncertainties.

“When icons appear on the market, they create their own market dynamic,” Carter said.

According to Art Basel and UBS’s 2024 Survey of Global Collecting, public auction sales at Christie’s totaled $2.1 billion in the first half of this year –– down 22% the same period last year –– marking the second consecutive year of declining first-half sales.

Christie’s however saw some uplifts in 2024, including in its sale of Asian art as well as total online sales, which recorded a 3% year-on-year increase in global share of bids since 2023.

A recent 20th and 21st century art sale in Hong Kong saw works by Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh fetching prices close to and below estimates –– a sign that buyers are still cautious.

Though perhaps best known for his surrealist depictions of bowler hat-wearing men, Magritte spent a period of 15 years exploring the fleeting transition from day to night in landscape painting. He produced a total of 17 oil paintings and 10 gouaches (water-based paintings) that all share the name “L’empire des lumières” –– and each with small alternations between versions.

The paradoxical paintings rose in demand, particularly when a large version created in 1954 was featured in the Belgian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale and was sold to famed collector Peggy Guggenheim. Magritte went on to create three similarly large canvases — including the one that sold Tuesday — that same year so as not to disappoint other collectors.

When asked about the comparatively subtle surrealism of the “L’empire des Lumières” works, Sandra Zalman, an art history associate professor at the University of Houston, argued that the lamppost was an early iteration of the iconic bowler-hat man.

“The lamppost’s shadow alludes to the bowler-hatted man, hovering — or haunting — the space that would otherwise be considered a quiet, though eerie, landscape,” she said, in an email.

Zalman added that the timing of the sale is also fitting –– not just because it coincides with the centennial of the surrealism movement, but that it’s taking place during a “surreal moment in history to be living through.”

“I would also argue that the surrealists’ own time was equally anxiety-ridden,” Zalman said. “There are almost too many parallels.”