Cities
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : France Paris Venice Monet London and Venice Caillebotte Renoir UK II Hockney Magritte Groups Music and dance China Chinese art Qianlong
Chronology : 18th century 1760-1769 19th century 1870-1879 20th century 1900-1909 1903 1908 1950-1959 1954 1961 1969
See also : France Paris Venice Monet London and Venice Caillebotte Renoir UK II Hockney Magritte Groups Music and dance China Chinese art Qianlong
Chronology : 18th century 1760-1769 19th century 1870-1879 20th century 1900-1909 1903 1908 1950-1959 1954 1961 1969
1764 Pacification of the Western Regions by Xu Yang
2021 SOLD for RMB 410M by Poly
From the 20th to 24th year of Qianlong matching 1755 to 1759 CE, the emperor ordered three military campaigns for the control of the border Xinjiang region and the destruction of the Dzungars.
Xu Yang was a court artist. A handscroll 43 x 1860 cm in bright colors on paper is titled Picture of the Presentation of the Captives for the Pacification of the Western Regions. Commissioned by the emperor, it depicts scenes in Beijing during a military ceremony in the Qing palace after the victories. His sense of perspective and figuration were influenced by European art.
This detailed topographic picture leads the viewer from Zhengyang gate to the Forbidden City through Tiananmen Square. Crowds are displayed alongside lines of guards and flag bearers.
According to the archives Xu Yang should have completed this painting before the 29th year of Qianlong's reign, 1764 CE.
This piece was originally displayed with brocade wrapping in the imperial palace and bears several seals of Qianlong. It was sold for RMB 134M by Sungari in 2009 and for RMB 410M by Poly on June 6, 2021, lot 1935 and is illustrated in the post sale report shared by CNN. Two details are illustrated in the tweet below.
Xu Yang was a court artist. A handscroll 43 x 1860 cm in bright colors on paper is titled Picture of the Presentation of the Captives for the Pacification of the Western Regions. Commissioned by the emperor, it depicts scenes in Beijing during a military ceremony in the Qing palace after the victories. His sense of perspective and figuration were influenced by European art.
This detailed topographic picture leads the viewer from Zhengyang gate to the Forbidden City through Tiananmen Square. Crowds are displayed alongside lines of guards and flag bearers.
According to the archives Xu Yang should have completed this painting before the 29th year of Qianlong's reign, 1764 CE.
This piece was originally displayed with brocade wrapping in the imperial palace and bears several seals of Qianlong. It was sold for RMB 134M by Sungari in 2009 and for RMB 410M by Poly on June 6, 2021, lot 1935 and is illustrated in the post sale report shared by CNN. Two details are illustrated in the tweet below.
Maybe the most expensive item in the coming Beijing Spring Auction:
— China in Pictures (@tongbingxue) May 17, 2021
Settling Down the Western Regions and Presenting Prisoners,
hand scroll by court artist Xu Yang, Qianlong Period (1736-1796), 1,800 cm wide, Poly Auction, POR. pic.twitter.com/SJqs7nM4DR
1874 Le Grand Canal by Manet
2022 SOLD for $ 52M by Christie's
The reciprocal influence of Manet and Monet was tremendous in art history. When the Impressionniste brush stroke was developed by his friends, Edouard Manet went to use lighter colors without his previous dark backgrounds. He also began to work outdoors while continuing to complete his best works in the studio.
Venice was another influence to Manet. In a first visit in 1853 while he was a student, he had admired Titian's Venus of Urbino that directly inspired his own Olympia in 1863.
Manet made his second visit to Venice in the fall of 1874. During his one month stay, he disregarded the monuments for appreciating the details that brought that amazing atmosphere to the city. He had spent the previous summer in his family home in Gennevilliers in the vicinity of Monet's Argenteuil and both artists had worked side by side and shared thoughts.
Manet painted only two views during that trip, both of the Gran Canale. Their unprecedented style to represent Venice certainly influenced Monet's views of the canal 34 years later.
Le Grand Canal à Venise, oil on canvas 58 x 48 cm, is a daring composition that could please Degas. The focusing point is a misaligned group of humble masts whose blue and white stripes make a bright contrast over the rest of the scenery including a half hidden soft pink Santa Maria della Salute. He added a cropped gondola at both sides of the picture. The reflections in the rippling water are inspired by Monet's views of the Seine.
It was sold for $ 52M by Christie's on November 9, 2022, lot 27. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The other view of Venice by Manet, 64 x 75 cm completed in 1875, focuses on a gondola with a standing gondolier paddling behind similar masts.
Venice was another influence to Manet. In a first visit in 1853 while he was a student, he had admired Titian's Venus of Urbino that directly inspired his own Olympia in 1863.
Manet made his second visit to Venice in the fall of 1874. During his one month stay, he disregarded the monuments for appreciating the details that brought that amazing atmosphere to the city. He had spent the previous summer in his family home in Gennevilliers in the vicinity of Monet's Argenteuil and both artists had worked side by side and shared thoughts.
Manet painted only two views during that trip, both of the Gran Canale. Their unprecedented style to represent Venice certainly influenced Monet's views of the canal 34 years later.
Le Grand Canal à Venise, oil on canvas 58 x 48 cm, is a daring composition that could please Degas. The focusing point is a misaligned group of humble masts whose blue and white stripes make a bright contrast over the rest of the scenery including a half hidden soft pink Santa Maria della Salute. He added a cropped gondola at both sides of the picture. The reflections in the rippling water are inspired by Monet's views of the Seine.
It was sold for $ 52M by Christie's on November 9, 2022, lot 27. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The other view of Venice by Manet, 64 x 75 cm completed in 1875, focuses on a gondola with a standing gondolier paddling behind similar masts.
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1876 Bal du Moulin de la Galette by Renoir
1990 SOLD for $ 78M by Sotheby's
In 1863 Charles Gleyre admonishes Monet because he does not follow the model of the antique. Bringing with him three friends, Sisley, Renoir and Bazille, Monet slams the door and manages to paint outdoors.
Their temperaments are different. They are young and tempted by the good life of dancing balls. While Monet is overtaken by his wife, Renoir expresses the carefree joie de vivre of the groups to which he applies the impressionist style. Le Bal du Moulin de la Galette in 1876 and Le Déjeuner des Canotiers, exhibited in 1882, are among the most important masterpieces of painting.
Renoir painted two identical versions of the Moulin de la Galette. The largest, 131 x 175 cm, became the property of the French State through the Caillebotte bequest and is currently at the Musée d'Orsay.
The other version is an oil on canvas 78 x 114 cm damaged by folding. Coming from the Whitney collection, it was sold for $ 78M by Sotheby's on May 17, 1990. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The buyer was a Japanese collector named Ryoei Saito, who had acquired the Portrait of Dr Gachet by Van Gogh two days earlier at Christies for $ 82M. Saito creates some terror in the art world by announcing that at his death he will be cremated with the two paintings to avoid that enormous inheritance rights are required to his heirs.
Saito died in 1996. His threat was not carried out because his wealth had turned down and the artworks were sequestered by his creditors, but the two paintings were never seen again. The Van Gogh was reportedly located in 2007 in the collection of an Austrian financier who has since gone bankrupt.
Their temperaments are different. They are young and tempted by the good life of dancing balls. While Monet is overtaken by his wife, Renoir expresses the carefree joie de vivre of the groups to which he applies the impressionist style. Le Bal du Moulin de la Galette in 1876 and Le Déjeuner des Canotiers, exhibited in 1882, are among the most important masterpieces of painting.
Renoir painted two identical versions of the Moulin de la Galette. The largest, 131 x 175 cm, became the property of the French State through the Caillebotte bequest and is currently at the Musée d'Orsay.
The other version is an oil on canvas 78 x 114 cm damaged by folding. Coming from the Whitney collection, it was sold for $ 78M by Sotheby's on May 17, 1990. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The buyer was a Japanese collector named Ryoei Saito, who had acquired the Portrait of Dr Gachet by Van Gogh two days earlier at Christies for $ 82M. Saito creates some terror in the art world by announcing that at his death he will be cremated with the two paintings to avoid that enormous inheritance rights are required to his heirs.
Saito died in 1996. His threat was not carried out because his wealth had turned down and the artworks were sequestered by his creditors, but the two paintings were never seen again. The Van Gogh was reportedly located in 2007 in the collection of an Austrian financier who has since gone bankrupt.
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1876 Jeune Homme à sa Fenêtre by Caillebotte
2021 SOLD for $ 53M by Christie's
Born in Paris to a family of wealthy bourgeois, Gustave Caillebotte graduated in law but could manage his life like a spare time. He took an interest in painting and made many friends in the avant-gardes. He was a keen visitor in 1874 of the exhibition afterward known as the Première exposition des peintres impressionnistes.
The young artists were innovating in the brush stroke, but also in the themes. Monet managed to display some instantaneous views of daily realism that went against the expectations of the official Salons. Un Coin d'appartement, painted by Monet in 1875, was acquired by Caillebotte whom it certainly deeply influenced.
In 1876 Caillebotte is invited to participate in the Seconde exposition des peintres impressionnistes. He hangs eight paintings including his masterpiece Les Raboteurs de parquet that does not feature the bourgeois but an instantaneous of three workers preparing the floor in a bourgeois apartment. This picture had of course been refused by the Salon for its ordinary theme in the previous year.
Another scene exhibited by Caillebotte at the Seconde exposition is Jeune Homme à sa fenêtre, mingling the keen interests of the artist for his family and for the bourgeois comfort of the districts recently rebuilt by Haussmann. It features his younger brother René from back, standing at the balcony of the family's apartment to have a look towards the rue de Miromesnil and its sparse pedestrians.
This oil on canvas 116 x 81 cm painted in 1876 was sold for $ 53M by Christie's on November 11, 2021, lot 23C. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The sun bathed rue de Miromesnil is rendered here in a highly realistic brush stroke. Now entered in the Impressionniste group, Caillebotte will then keenly use their style of painting and be instrumental in promoting their exhibitions.
L'Homme au balcon boulevard Haussmann, oil on canvas 117 x 90 cm painted in 1880, is a similar composition from an elevated point executed with an impressionist brushstroke in the trees. It has been sold for $ 14.3M by Christie's on May 8, 2000, lot 8.
The young artists were innovating in the brush stroke, but also in the themes. Monet managed to display some instantaneous views of daily realism that went against the expectations of the official Salons. Un Coin d'appartement, painted by Monet in 1875, was acquired by Caillebotte whom it certainly deeply influenced.
In 1876 Caillebotte is invited to participate in the Seconde exposition des peintres impressionnistes. He hangs eight paintings including his masterpiece Les Raboteurs de parquet that does not feature the bourgeois but an instantaneous of three workers preparing the floor in a bourgeois apartment. This picture had of course been refused by the Salon for its ordinary theme in the previous year.
Another scene exhibited by Caillebotte at the Seconde exposition is Jeune Homme à sa fenêtre, mingling the keen interests of the artist for his family and for the bourgeois comfort of the districts recently rebuilt by Haussmann. It features his younger brother René from back, standing at the balcony of the family's apartment to have a look towards the rue de Miromesnil and its sparse pedestrians.
This oil on canvas 116 x 81 cm painted in 1876 was sold for $ 53M by Christie's on November 11, 2021, lot 23C. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The sun bathed rue de Miromesnil is rendered here in a highly realistic brush stroke. Now entered in the Impressionniste group, Caillebotte will then keenly use their style of painting and be instrumental in promoting their exhibitions.
L'Homme au balcon boulevard Haussmann, oil on canvas 117 x 90 cm painted in 1880, is a similar composition from an elevated point executed with an impressionist brushstroke in the trees. It has been sold for $ 14.3M by Christie's on May 8, 2000, lot 8.
1903 London by MONET
Intro
In the early autumn 1899 Claude and Alice Monet are in London for family purpose. Under their windows at the Savoy Hotel, the Thames river flows eastward between the Charing Cross railway bridge and the Waterloo road bridge.
The artist returns alone in the following year to the same hotel for a longer stay, in February and March. He loved the winter fog of London. Not for its mist but for its ever vanishing colors.
After Constable, Monet was a skilled interpreter of the English sky. He was more directly influenced from the atmosphere of London by Turner in the 1830s and by the nocturnal colors of the Thames by Whistler in the 1870s.
The light changes at every moment with the clouds pushed by the wind and the instability of the fog. He observes that some effects of light through the fog do not exceed five minutes. His control is total and even his method for applying his brush varies depending on the desired effect.
He applies every day an ambitious working plan with a schedule of the utmost rigor. Taking advantage of the benevolent help of the Savoy, he prepares dozens of canvases to translate in parallel all the shimmers of pink fog in the morning on Waterloo Bridge and in the early afternoon on Charing Cross Bridge.
In February 1900 he adds as a third view the sunset above the neo-Gothic buildings of the Houses of Parliament and the river. This activity was requiring the outdoor installation of his easels in parallel in the garden of St. Thomas's Hospital, as he had done in Giverny in 1891 for painting the Peupliers. Already a famous artist, Monet easily gets the authorization to work in this place. Every afternoon at 4:00, he leaves the hotel to retrieve or resettle his easels at the hospital.
The change of light in the early spring terminates the session when the sun is now higher and the light has changed. By considering the three views altogether, Monet started a hundred paintings during the 1900 stay.
He leaves London before spring when the sun is now higher and the light has changed. He returns with his paintings in 1901 during the same season but snow and cold prevent a further progress.
That selection of only three view points, all of them along the River Thames, for expressing the atmosphere of a big city was an amazing artistic conception. Monet is definitely not a tourist : the rest of the city does not interest him.
He reworked all of them simultaneously in his studio at Giverny and signed them with the date of the completion. He thus painted 41 views of the elegant Waterloo bridge, 37 views of Charing Cross bridge and 19 views of the Towers of Parliament. He considered that work as a whole and did not give visibility before the last of them was finished in 1904. Their exhibition by Durand-Ruel in that year got a considerable success. He also made pastels.
The artist returns alone in the following year to the same hotel for a longer stay, in February and March. He loved the winter fog of London. Not for its mist but for its ever vanishing colors.
After Constable, Monet was a skilled interpreter of the English sky. He was more directly influenced from the atmosphere of London by Turner in the 1830s and by the nocturnal colors of the Thames by Whistler in the 1870s.
The light changes at every moment with the clouds pushed by the wind and the instability of the fog. He observes that some effects of light through the fog do not exceed five minutes. His control is total and even his method for applying his brush varies depending on the desired effect.
He applies every day an ambitious working plan with a schedule of the utmost rigor. Taking advantage of the benevolent help of the Savoy, he prepares dozens of canvases to translate in parallel all the shimmers of pink fog in the morning on Waterloo Bridge and in the early afternoon on Charing Cross Bridge.
In February 1900 he adds as a third view the sunset above the neo-Gothic buildings of the Houses of Parliament and the river. This activity was requiring the outdoor installation of his easels in parallel in the garden of St. Thomas's Hospital, as he had done in Giverny in 1891 for painting the Peupliers. Already a famous artist, Monet easily gets the authorization to work in this place. Every afternoon at 4:00, he leaves the hotel to retrieve or resettle his easels at the hospital.
The change of light in the early spring terminates the session when the sun is now higher and the light has changed. By considering the three views altogether, Monet started a hundred paintings during the 1900 stay.
He leaves London before spring when the sun is now higher and the light has changed. He returns with his paintings in 1901 during the same season but snow and cold prevent a further progress.
That selection of only three view points, all of them along the River Thames, for expressing the atmosphere of a big city was an amazing artistic conception. Monet is definitely not a tourist : the rest of the city does not interest him.
He reworked all of them simultaneously in his studio at Giverny and signed them with the date of the completion. He thus painted 41 views of the elegant Waterloo bridge, 37 views of Charing Cross bridge and 19 views of the Towers of Parliament. He considered that work as a whole and did not give visibility before the last of them was finished in 1904. Their exhibition by Durand-Ruel in that year got a considerable success. He also made pastels.
1
Le Parlement
2022 SOLD for $ 76M by Christie's
The subgroup of the Parliament from St. Thomas's at sunset consists of 19 oil paintings in a unique format 81 x 93 cm.
Le Parlement - soleil couchant, numbered 1603 by Wildenstein, was sold for $ 40.5M by Christie's on May 11, 2015, lot 24A. Dated 1902, this painting is one of the first that was completed by the artist, perhaps because the very expressive sky is particularly successful. Despite the clouds, the sun plays behind the high tower and the soft pink shades apply to the edges of the clouds and to the reflections in the river.
The Wildenstein 1604, with the same title and subtitle, was dated 1903 by the artist. Both were included in the 1904 exhibition of Monet's Vues de la Tamise à Londres at the Galerie Durand-Ruel.
Both sceneries were captured at about the same time at around 5 o'clock in another twilight, W1603 at a later date. W1603 displays a striking appearance of the sun amidst dramatic clouds while W1604 is foggy in violets, lilacs, blues and deep pink with a ghostly silhouette of the Parliament buildings.
W1604 was sold for $ 76M from a lower estimate of $ 40M by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 10C.
Le Parlement - soleil couchant, numbered 1603 by Wildenstein, was sold for $ 40.5M by Christie's on May 11, 2015, lot 24A. Dated 1902, this painting is one of the first that was completed by the artist, perhaps because the very expressive sky is particularly successful. Despite the clouds, the sun plays behind the high tower and the soft pink shades apply to the edges of the clouds and to the reflections in the river.
The Wildenstein 1604, with the same title and subtitle, was dated 1903 by the artist. Both were included in the 1904 exhibition of Monet's Vues de la Tamise à Londres at the Galerie Durand-Ruel.
Both sceneries were captured at about the same time at around 5 o'clock in another twilight, W1603 at a later date. W1603 displays a striking appearance of the sun amidst dramatic clouds while W1604 is foggy in violets, lilacs, blues and deep pink with a ghostly silhouette of the Parliament buildings.
W1604 was sold for $ 76M from a lower estimate of $ 40M by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 10C.
#AuctionUpdate Claude Monet’s ‘Le Parlement, soleil couchant’ realizes $75.96 million  pic.twitter.com/BpjEOoZ7nY
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) May 12, 2022
2
Waterloo Bridge soleil voilé
2022 SOLD for $ 65M by Christie's
Monet enjoyed the ever changing light of London in winter. While he observed the Waterloo Bridge, the sun rays rarely pierced the morning fog, enriched it with ephemeral lilac, blue and violet tones.
Waterloo Bridge, soleil voilé, oil on canvas 65 x 100 cm dated 1903, was sold by Christie's for $ 8.3M on November 11, 1997, lot 107, and for $ 65M by Christie's on November 9, 2022, lot 41. It had been exhibited at the Galerie Durand-Ruel in 1904. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Specific details including a single boat on the Thames are immersed in the haze of smoke and fog. The carriages are expressed in an evanescent glittering procession across the bridge, in a later moment than the early morning usually practiced by Monet for this view.
On May 13, 2021, Christie's sold for $ 48M Waterloo Bridge effet de brouillard, oil on canvas 66 x 100 cm dated 1903, lot 8 B. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The intense fog displays here an ethereal blue iridescent with soft hues of violet, pink and orange, dissolving the animation of the passing carriages and reducing the shores to mere shadows. This opus had been included in 1904 in the ground-breaking Durand-Ruel exhibition entitled Claude Monet : Vues de la Tamise à Londres.
Waterloo Bridge, soleil voilé, oil on canvas 65 x 100 cm dated 1903, was sold by Christie's for $ 8.3M on November 11, 1997, lot 107, and for $ 65M by Christie's on November 9, 2022, lot 41. It had been exhibited at the Galerie Durand-Ruel in 1904. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Specific details including a single boat on the Thames are immersed in the haze of smoke and fog. The carriages are expressed in an evanescent glittering procession across the bridge, in a later moment than the early morning usually practiced by Monet for this view.
On May 13, 2021, Christie's sold for $ 48M Waterloo Bridge effet de brouillard, oil on canvas 66 x 100 cm dated 1903, lot 8 B. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The intense fog displays here an ethereal blue iridescent with soft hues of violet, pink and orange, dissolving the animation of the passing carriages and reducing the shores to mere shadows. This opus had been included in 1904 in the ground-breaking Durand-Ruel exhibition entitled Claude Monet : Vues de la Tamise à Londres.
1908 Grand Canal by Monet
2022 SOLD for $ 57M by Sotheby's
The next Wildenstein number from the example above is a very similar view of the Grand Canal with Santa Maria della Salute in the opposite bank, in the same 73 x 92 cm format. It is taken from farther away from the first pole, and the lower step corner of the Palazzo Barbaro over the canal has been added.
These after lunch pictures ended at 3 o'clock Claude's working day. He would then relax until twilight in a gondola tour with Alice.
The weather is sunny. The difference between both pieces is the attempt by the artist to catch subtle changes in the mirage-like atmosphere and haze of the water scenery caught in another early afternoon.
The surface of the canal is iridescent of a wide range of reflected colors providing the effect of a splashing water. Far away gondolas have been added.
This oil on canvas was sold for $ 57M by Sotheby's on May 18, 2022, lot 8. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
These after lunch pictures ended at 3 o'clock Claude's working day. He would then relax until twilight in a gondola tour with Alice.
The weather is sunny. The difference between both pieces is the attempt by the artist to catch subtle changes in the mirage-like atmosphere and haze of the water scenery caught in another early afternoon.
The surface of the canal is iridescent of a wide range of reflected colors providing the effect of a splashing water. Far away gondolas have been added.
This oil on canvas was sold for $ 57M by Sotheby's on May 18, 2022, lot 8. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The Monet market has been raging. Now Sotheby's is pulling out a Venetian painting with a $50m asking price. They may be shooting too low: https://t.co/wmtcwaJhA4 pic.twitter.com/Hj59nApK2e
— LiveArt (@artmarket) March 25, 2022
L'Empire des Lumières by MAGRITTE
1
1954
2024 SOLD for $ 120M by Christie's
Surrealism is most often requiring an uneasy decoding. When practiced by René Magritte, it sometimes disturbs the viewer by the very simplicity of the message. La Trahison des Images painted in 1929 became the symbol of that language which is both offbeat and poetic.
With its title attributed by Paul Nougé, L'Empire des lumières reached a similar notoriety. The theme is commonplace : a night view of a suburb inspired by the Brussels district where Magritte resides.
The inhabitants are not visible but we imagine them behind the lighted windows. A lamppost illuminates the street with a questionable effectiveness. Beside these few glows the shadows are saturated. No contradiction of scale comes to puzzle the viewer.
Above this peaceful night the sky is blue, dotted with white clouds. The artist asks a poetic question for which he knows that there is no answer : are day and night incompatible or are they two complementary elements of real life ? In pre war works such as Le Poison, the addition of the crescent moon and starred sky on the façade added the surrealist feeling that Magritte removed in L'Empire des lumières.
The first oil variant of the Empire des lumières was completed in 1949. This canvas 49 x 59 cm was sold by Christie's for $ 35M on November 9, 2023, lot 16 B.
Nobody dared questioning if the Empire des lumières was not just a mere realistic twilight. It somehow illustrates a typically Surrealist verse by Breton : 'Si seulement il faisait du soleil cette nuit'. Indeed when Magritte relocated in a quiet residential corner in Brussels in the fall of 1955, he wrote to a friend : “You will see: in the evenings, it’s like being in the picture L'Empire des Lumières".
René Magritte used to execute remakes of his preferred titles with images slightly different from one another. The 17 oil variants of L'Empire des Lumières are all different while maintaining the same theme of night and day in a quiet suburb.
The number III, oil in canvas 80 x 66 cm, was painted in 1951. It is departing from the first two by a setting in the distance that cancels the street and the streetlamp. Beside the dark foreground the row of a single house with silhouetted trees looks desperately flat. The ten apertures of the house in two floors are brilliantly lit from behind.
The residents are absent. Viewers looking for a human representation cannot any more focus on the lamp. They find a boulder on the lawn and an oversized tree beside the house. At the same time with La Forêt, Giacometti personalized the trees.
This version was sold for $ 42M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2023, lot 3.
The removal of the streetlamp was not convincing for the balance of the image. This equipment was restituted in all the subsequent oil versions.
In 1954 Magritte added a significant goodie in three opuses of L'Empire des Lumières. He superseded the dark foreground by a waterway, doubling the points of light by their rippling reflection. The three were prepared by the artist for deceived buyers disappointed after he sold a promised large size example to Peggy Guggenheim at the Venice Biennale.
One of them, 146 x 114 cm, is still kept by its original owner, the Musées Royaux in Brussels. Its scene is nearly identical with the example in the Ertegun collection, oil on canvas of the same size, sold for $ 120M by Christie's on November 19, 2024, lot 19A.
The third version, 129 x 94 cm with another configuration of the trees, belongs to the Menil collection in Houston.
A gouache on paper 36 x 47 cm painted in 1956 with the waterway in the foreground was sold for $ 19M by Christie's on November 19, 2024, lot 25A. The reflection the lights over the ground floor is out of the field.
With its title attributed by Paul Nougé, L'Empire des lumières reached a similar notoriety. The theme is commonplace : a night view of a suburb inspired by the Brussels district where Magritte resides.
The inhabitants are not visible but we imagine them behind the lighted windows. A lamppost illuminates the street with a questionable effectiveness. Beside these few glows the shadows are saturated. No contradiction of scale comes to puzzle the viewer.
Above this peaceful night the sky is blue, dotted with white clouds. The artist asks a poetic question for which he knows that there is no answer : are day and night incompatible or are they two complementary elements of real life ? In pre war works such as Le Poison, the addition of the crescent moon and starred sky on the façade added the surrealist feeling that Magritte removed in L'Empire des lumières.
The first oil variant of the Empire des lumières was completed in 1949. This canvas 49 x 59 cm was sold by Christie's for $ 35M on November 9, 2023, lot 16 B.
Nobody dared questioning if the Empire des lumières was not just a mere realistic twilight. It somehow illustrates a typically Surrealist verse by Breton : 'Si seulement il faisait du soleil cette nuit'. Indeed when Magritte relocated in a quiet residential corner in Brussels in the fall of 1955, he wrote to a friend : “You will see: in the evenings, it’s like being in the picture L'Empire des Lumières".
René Magritte used to execute remakes of his preferred titles with images slightly different from one another. The 17 oil variants of L'Empire des Lumières are all different while maintaining the same theme of night and day in a quiet suburb.
The number III, oil in canvas 80 x 66 cm, was painted in 1951. It is departing from the first two by a setting in the distance that cancels the street and the streetlamp. Beside the dark foreground the row of a single house with silhouetted trees looks desperately flat. The ten apertures of the house in two floors are brilliantly lit from behind.
The residents are absent. Viewers looking for a human representation cannot any more focus on the lamp. They find a boulder on the lawn and an oversized tree beside the house. At the same time with La Forêt, Giacometti personalized the trees.
This version was sold for $ 42M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2023, lot 3.
The removal of the streetlamp was not convincing for the balance of the image. This equipment was restituted in all the subsequent oil versions.
In 1954 Magritte added a significant goodie in three opuses of L'Empire des Lumières. He superseded the dark foreground by a waterway, doubling the points of light by their rippling reflection. The three were prepared by the artist for deceived buyers disappointed after he sold a promised large size example to Peggy Guggenheim at the Venice Biennale.
One of them, 146 x 114 cm, is still kept by its original owner, the Musées Royaux in Brussels. Its scene is nearly identical with the example in the Ertegun collection, oil on canvas of the same size, sold for $ 120M by Christie's on November 19, 2024, lot 19A.
The third version, 129 x 94 cm with another configuration of the trees, belongs to the Menil collection in Houston.
A gouache on paper 36 x 47 cm painted in 1956 with the waterway in the foreground was sold for $ 19M by Christie's on November 19, 2024, lot 25A. The reflection the lights over the ground floor is out of the field.
2
1961
2022 SOLD for £ 60M by Sotheby's
The friends of the artist are enthusiastic about L'Empire des Lumières and Magritte makes a total of seventeen oil variants over the years. An Empire des lumières 100 x 80 cm painted in 1952 was sold for $ 12.7M by Christie's on May 7, 2002, lot 36.
The fifteenth version of L'Empire des Lumières was painted by Magritte from order for a present to a friend's daughter. It is an enlarged remake of a segment of the original painting in a large size panoramic format of similar proportions.
The inhabitants are not visible but we imagine them behind the lighted windows. A lamppost illuminates the street with a questionable effectiveness. Beside these few glows the shadows are saturated. No contradiction of scale comes to puzzle the viewer.
Above this peaceful night the sky is blue, dotted with white clouds. The artist asks a poetic question for which he knows that there is no answer : are day and night incompatible or are they two complementary elements of real life ?
The first variant of the Empire des lumières was completed in 1949. This oil on canvas 49 x 59 cm was sold for $ 20.6M by Christie's on November 13, 2017, lot 12 A.
Nobody dared questioning if the Empire des lumières was not just a mere realistic twilight. It somehow illustrates a typically Surrealist verse by Breton : 'Si seulement il faisait du soleil cette nuit'.
The friends of the artist are enthusiastic about L'Empire des Lumières and Magritte makes a total of seventeen variants over the years. An Empire des lumières 100 x 80 cm painted in 1952 was sold for $ 12.7M by Christie's on May 7, 2002, lot 36.
The largest version of L'Empire des Lumières is the fifteenth, painted by Magritte from order for a present to a friend's daughter. It is an exceptional enlarged remake of a segment of the original painting in a rare panoramic format of similar proportions.
Matching some features of Magritte's ideal woman, the daughter revealed in 2015 that she had been the charming blonde model for La Fée ignorante, a beautiful title of an artwork indeed. The artist kindly said to the teenager : “tu vois, je te peignais déjà avant de te connaître...”»
Now consigned from that single ownership, this oil on canvas 115 x 146 cm was sold for £ 60M by Sotheby's on March 2, 2022, lot 114.
Magritte himself brings a disturbing continuation much later with La Fin du monde. Over the same place the sky has become black and in a better logic the horizon is still bright. The signature head with the bowler hat appears as a threat amidst the black silhouettes of the trees. This oil on canvas 82 x 100 cm painted in 1963 was sold for $ 7M by Christie's on November 1, 2011.
The fifteenth version of L'Empire des Lumières was painted by Magritte from order for a present to a friend's daughter. It is an enlarged remake of a segment of the original painting in a large size panoramic format of similar proportions.
The inhabitants are not visible but we imagine them behind the lighted windows. A lamppost illuminates the street with a questionable effectiveness. Beside these few glows the shadows are saturated. No contradiction of scale comes to puzzle the viewer.
Above this peaceful night the sky is blue, dotted with white clouds. The artist asks a poetic question for which he knows that there is no answer : are day and night incompatible or are they two complementary elements of real life ?
The first variant of the Empire des lumières was completed in 1949. This oil on canvas 49 x 59 cm was sold for $ 20.6M by Christie's on November 13, 2017, lot 12 A.
Nobody dared questioning if the Empire des lumières was not just a mere realistic twilight. It somehow illustrates a typically Surrealist verse by Breton : 'Si seulement il faisait du soleil cette nuit'.
The friends of the artist are enthusiastic about L'Empire des Lumières and Magritte makes a total of seventeen variants over the years. An Empire des lumières 100 x 80 cm painted in 1952 was sold for $ 12.7M by Christie's on May 7, 2002, lot 36.
The largest version of L'Empire des Lumières is the fifteenth, painted by Magritte from order for a present to a friend's daughter. It is an exceptional enlarged remake of a segment of the original painting in a rare panoramic format of similar proportions.
Matching some features of Magritte's ideal woman, the daughter revealed in 2015 that she had been the charming blonde model for La Fée ignorante, a beautiful title of an artwork indeed. The artist kindly said to the teenager : “tu vois, je te peignais déjà avant de te connaître...”»
Now consigned from that single ownership, this oil on canvas 115 x 146 cm was sold for £ 60M by Sotheby's on March 2, 2022, lot 114.
Magritte himself brings a disturbing continuation much later with La Fin du monde. Over the same place the sky has become black and in a better logic the horizon is still bright. The signature head with the bowler hat appears as a threat amidst the black silhouettes of the trees. This oil on canvas 82 x 100 cm painted in 1963 was sold for $ 7M by Christie's on November 1, 2011.
1969 Geldzahler and Scott by Hockney
2019 SOLD for £ 38M by Christie's
Looking for sexual freedom, David Hockney arrives in California in 1964. The easy life nevertheless does not answer his questioning about communication within a couple.
Between 1968 and 1977 he makes double portraits in very large format, 214 x 305 cm. He alternates between homosexual and heterosexual couples and ends the series with his own parents, clearly assessing that his concern is no longer sex but dialogue. The sitters are most often identified in the title and are very recognizable.
Invariably the two characters are distant from each other with a deliberately orthogonal gazing. In this strange intimacy, the painter is an invisible social voyeur.
Installed again in London in 1968, he does not neglect America. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is preparing a major exhibition that will reveal post-war American art to the general public. The curator of this important cultural operation is the highly influential Henry Geldzahler.
Hockney arrives in Geldzahler's living room in Manhattan with his sketchbook, polaroid camera and flu. Back in his studio in London, he paints in 1969 'Henry Geldzahler and Christopher Scott'. This acrylic on canvas was sold for £ 38M by Christie's on March 6, 2019, lot 8.
The two men could not be more dissimilar and yet their life as a couple is sustainable. Robust and confident in himself, Geldzahler is comfortably seated in the middle of a beautiful sofa worthy of the greatest Art Deco collections. On the right, his young partner is standing, dressed in a raincoat too big for him and as stiff as the floor lamp. The scene is located by the skyscrapers beyond the small window.
Between 1968 and 1977 he makes double portraits in very large format, 214 x 305 cm. He alternates between homosexual and heterosexual couples and ends the series with his own parents, clearly assessing that his concern is no longer sex but dialogue. The sitters are most often identified in the title and are very recognizable.
Invariably the two characters are distant from each other with a deliberately orthogonal gazing. In this strange intimacy, the painter is an invisible social voyeur.
Installed again in London in 1968, he does not neglect America. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is preparing a major exhibition that will reveal post-war American art to the general public. The curator of this important cultural operation is the highly influential Henry Geldzahler.
Hockney arrives in Geldzahler's living room in Manhattan with his sketchbook, polaroid camera and flu. Back in his studio in London, he paints in 1969 'Henry Geldzahler and Christopher Scott'. This acrylic on canvas was sold for £ 38M by Christie's on March 6, 2019, lot 8.
The two men could not be more dissimilar and yet their life as a couple is sustainable. Robust and confident in himself, Geldzahler is comfortably seated in the middle of a beautiful sofa worthy of the greatest Art Deco collections. On the right, his young partner is standing, dressed in a raincoat too big for him and as stiff as the floor lamp. The scene is located by the skyscrapers beyond the small window.
