Magritte's first 'Black Magic' painting sold for more than 10m euros at Paris auction
The first of Belgian surrealist painter René Magritte's famous “Black Magic” paintings, the “La Magie Noire” series, has been sold for 10.7 million euros on Friday at the auction house Sotheby's in Paris. This is a record for a painting in this series, which depicts a female body suspended between flesh, stone, and sky.
Painted in 1934 and acquired directly from the artist in 1935 by its former owners, this very first painting of the “La Magie Noire” or “Black Magic” series was estimated to be worth between five and seven million euros. The previous auction record for a “La Magie Noire” painting was set in 2015 at Christie's in New York, where it sold for 6.7 million dollars – about 5.7 million euros.
His first “Black Magic” painting depicts a nude woman resembling a marble statue whose body fades into the pale blue sky, with a pigeon perched on her disappearing shoulder. Part of the background shows a wood-panelled interior wall. In total, Magritte made ten paintings in this series, all depicting women transforming into elemental forms. He used his wife, Georgette Berger, as a model. “It is an act of black magic to transform a woman’s flesh into sky,” Magritte himself said about the paintings.
“It is an act of black magic to transform a woman’s flesh into sky"
For 90 years, the painting remained in the possession of the Spaak family, a prominent Belgian family who were among the earliest supporters of Magritte. They were Magritte’s benefactors at a time when he was struggling financially and had failed to sell a single work for two years.
The painting, which has been displayed in the Magritte Museum in Brussels, has rarely been on view outside Belgium.
“La Magie Noire” painting displayed at the Magritte Museum in Brussels © BELGA PHOTO JAMES ARTHUR GEKIERE
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