Two works by Magritte, unseen on art market, sold in France
A painted object and a drawing by Belgian surrealist artist René Magritte, previously unseen on the art market, were sold at auction in France on Saturday for 255,000 and 100,000 euros respectively.
The works had been kept by the family of Belgian surrealist poet, lawyer and filmmaker Ernst Moerman, who became their owner. "To find two works unknown to the catalogue raisonné and certified by the Magritte committee is exceptional," Solène Lainé, an auctioneer in Caen, told AFP.
The painted object, estimated at between 150,000 and 200,000 euros, was bought for 255,000 euros (316,000 euros with costs): it is a piece of wooden panel on which Magritte painted a blue sky dotted with clouds, pierced by a real pebble.
The colour pencil drawing measuring 27 x 24 cm, untitled but called Nu de face for the sale, depicts a standing nude woman with long multicoloured curls. It attracted only one bid, at the low end of its estimate of between 100,000 and 150,000 euros, for a total of 124,000 euros with costs.
"It's Magritte's good period, the 30s and 40s, the most sought after, the surrealist period, the one that made the biggest impact," said Irénée Brun of Perazzone-Brun, the firm responsible for authenticating and appraising the works.
Magritte was a pioneer of surrealism and renowned for his ability to merge the ordinary with the dreamlike, creating works that challenge perception and reality. At an auction late last year in New York, his painting L'Empire des lumières fetched 121.16 million dollars, a world record for surrealist art at the time.
© PHOTO LOU BENOIST / AFP
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