La reconnaissance infinie by René Magritte
Every year, around the beginning of March, Christie’s hosts an Art of the Surreal sale at its London location. For as long as I’ve been covering these auctions, they have always been some of the greatest successes Christie’s experiences for the year. And 2025 was no different. On Wednesday, March 5th, a total of twenty-five lots crossed the block and proved that the market for surrealist paintings is incredibly strong.
When you pay attention to how surrealist works of art perform on the secondary market, you notice the same few names that always bring in insane amounts of money. And, of course, at Christie’s on Wednesday, it was time to show off another priceless work by René Magritte. The Belgian artist’s 1933 painting La reconnaissance infinie last sold at auction at Christie’s in 2004, where it hammered at £600K (or £1.06 million / $1.37 million in 2026). Magritte created the work in 1933, shortly after a successful exhibition at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. Many interpret the work as a commentary on our ability to reflect on our place in the world and the universe. This time, Christie’s predicted the painting would sell for between £6 million and £9 million. Bids came in at a steady pace, stalling at around £8 million. It came down to two phone bidders who gradually decreased the increments, going from £8.2 million to £8.5 million to £8.6 million. The bidder on the phone with Maria Los, head of Christie’s American client advisory, finally snagged it at £8.7 million / $11.2 million (or £10.3 million / $13.3 million w/p).
La ville endormie by Paul Delvaux
Next up was a 1938 oil painting by Magritte’s colleague Paul Delvaux. The painting, entitled La ville endormie, shows several nude female figures and the artist’s self-portrait among the ruins of a town at nighttime. The structures of the ruined city resemble those of classical antiquity. However, their placement and arrangement in the painting give the setting a quality closer to fantasy than history. The use of classical and neoclassical architecture is something that several surrealists used in their works, most notably Giorgio de Chirico. When it crossed the block on Wednesday, it was the first time the painting had gone to auction in over thirty years. The Delvaux was expected by Christie’s to bring in a good amount of money, but few anticipated it to become one of the sale’s top lots. The most anyone expected the painting to sell for was £1.8 million. It surpassed this estimate after fifty-six seconds of bidding. It then reached double the highest estimate after three-and-a-half minutes. After just over eight minutes, it finally hammered at £5.1 million / $6.57 million (or £6.18 million / $7.96 million w/p), or 2.8 times the high estimate. La ville endormie is now the artist’s third most valuable painting to sell at auction. And finally, another Magritte in third place. In the painting, La lumière du pôle, Magritte pulled from his experience as a commercial artist to create several figures, two of them appearing like shattered mannequins while a third appears almost like a person in a fur coat missing their face. Magritte designed catalogues for fur companies in the mid-1920s, allowing him to emulate these textures here. The work also has an interesting provenance. Several European galleries owned it at one point or another, and it was previously in the collection of the actress Sophia Loren. Christie’s expected it to make at least £4.5 million. However, interest in the painting was not as great as some of the others in the sale. After only a few bids, Adrien Meyer brought the hammer down after thirty-five seconds at £4 million / $5.15 million (or £4.88 million / $6.3 million w/p).
La lumière du pôle by René Magritte
Delvaux’s La ville endormie was not the only work by the artist that did spectacularly well on Wednesday. Three Delvaux paintings were available at Christie’s that day, one of which, Les belles de nuit, was the biggest surprise of the sale. Against a high estimate of £1 million, the painting attracted much attention, with bidding going on for nearly 5 minutes. It eventually hammered at £3.6 million / $4.6 million (or £4.4 million / $5.66 million w/p), or over three-and-a-half times the high estimate. Even compared to previous years, the Art of the Surreal sale at Christie’s on Wednesday did exceptionally well. These sales typically have incredibly high sell-through rates and specialist accuracy rates. Last year’s sale did not do as well as is normal, and they still managed an 88% sell-through rate with a 40% accuracy rate for the specialists, bringing in £49.5 million against a total low estimate of £48 million. This year, however, the surrealist sale returned with a bang. Of the twenty-five lots available, only one went unsold, giving it a sell-through rate of 96%. Furthermore, twelve lots sold within their estimates, giving Christie’s a 48% accuracy rate. An additional eight lots (32%) sold above their estimates. The sale ended up exceeding its total high estimate. With all twenty-five lots initially predicted to bring in a maximum of £38.4 million, the sale ended with a total hammer of £39.4 million / $50.8 million.
Christie’s London Art Of The Surreal
La reconnaissance infinie by René Magritte
Every year, around the beginning of March, Christie’s hosts an Art of the Surreal sale at its London location. For as long as I’ve been covering these auctions, they have always been some of the greatest successes Christie’s experiences for the year. And 2025 was no different. On Wednesday, March 5th, a total of twenty-five lots crossed the block and proved that the market for surrealist paintings is incredibly strong.
When you pay attention to how surrealist works of art perform on the secondary market, you notice the same few names that always bring in insane amounts of money. And, of course, at Christie’s on Wednesday, it was time to show off another priceless work by René Magritte. The Belgian artist’s 1933 painting La reconnaissance infinie last sold at auction at Christie’s in 2004, where it hammered at £600K (or £1.06 million / $1.37 million in 2026). Magritte created the work in 1933, shortly after a successful exhibition at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. Many interpret the work as a commentary on our ability to reflect on our place in the world and the universe. This time, Christie’s predicted the painting would sell for between £6 million and £9 million. Bids came in at a steady pace, stalling at around £8 million. It came down to two phone bidders who gradually decreased the increments, going from £8.2 million to £8.5 million to £8.6 million. The bidder on the phone with Maria Los, head of Christie’s American client advisory, finally snagged it at £8.7 million / $11.2 million (or £10.3 million / $13.3 million w/p).
La ville endormie by Paul Delvaux
Next up was a 1938 oil painting by Magritte’s colleague Paul Delvaux. The painting, entitled La ville endormie, shows several nude female figures and the artist’s self-portrait among the ruins of a town at nighttime. The structures of the ruined city resemble those of classical antiquity. However, their placement and arrangement in the painting give the setting a quality closer to fantasy than history. The use of classical and neoclassical architecture is something that several surrealists used in their works, most notably Giorgio de Chirico. When it crossed the block on Wednesday, it was the first time the painting had gone to auction in over thirty years. The Delvaux was expected by Christie’s to bring in a good amount of money, but few anticipated it to become one of the sale’s top lots. The most anyone expected the painting to sell for was £1.8 million. It surpassed this estimate after fifty-six seconds of bidding. It then reached double the highest estimate after three-and-a-half minutes. After just over eight minutes, it finally hammered at £5.1 million / $6.57 million (or £6.18 million / $7.96 million w/p), or 2.8 times the high estimate. La ville endormie is now the artist’s third most valuable painting to sell at auction. And finally, another Magritte in third place. In the painting, La lumière du pôle, Magritte pulled from his experience as a commercial artist to create several figures, two of them appearing like shattered mannequins while a third appears almost like a person in a fur coat missing their face. Magritte designed catalogues for fur companies in the mid-1920s, allowing him to emulate these textures here. The work also has an interesting provenance. Several European galleries owned it at one point or another, and it was previously in the collection of the actress Sophia Loren. Christie’s expected it to make at least £4.5 million. However, interest in the painting was not as great as some of the others in the sale. After only a few bids, Adrien Meyer brought the hammer down after thirty-five seconds at £4 million / $5.15 million (or £4.88 million / $6.3 million w/p).
La lumière du pôle by René Magritte
Delvaux’s La ville endormie was not the only work by the artist that did spectacularly well on Wednesday. Three Delvaux paintings were available at Christie’s that day, one of which, Les belles de nuit, was the biggest surprise of the sale. Against a high estimate of £1 million, the painting attracted much attention, with bidding going on for nearly 5 minutes. It eventually hammered at £3.6 million / $4.6 million (or £4.4 million / $5.66 million w/p), or over three-and-a-half times the high estimate. Even compared to previous years, the Art of the Surreal sale at Christie’s on Wednesday did exceptionally well. These sales typically have incredibly high sell-through rates and specialist accuracy rates. Last year’s sale did not do as well as is normal, and they still managed an 88% sell-through rate with a 40% accuracy rate for the specialists, bringing in £49.5 million against a total low estimate of £48 million. This year, however, the surrealist sale returned with a bang. Of the twenty-five lots available, only one went unsold, giving it a sell-through rate of 96%. Furthermore, twelve lots sold within their estimates, giving Christie’s a 48% accuracy rate. An additional eight lots (32%) sold above their estimates. The sale ended up exceeding its total high estimate. With all twenty-five lots initially predicted to bring in a maximum of £38.4 million, the sale ended with a total hammer of £39.4 million / $50.8 million.