The Uncanny Painting That Set Rene Magritte's Auction Record
3 min read · 18 Sep 2025
L'Empire Des Lumières. Image courtesy of Christie's
Rene Magritte, L'Empire Des Lumières (1954) sold for $121.2m, more than the low estimate at Christie's in New York on November 19. The oil on canvas work has been traded twice in the past. It was reportedly bought by the billionaire Ken Griffin.
Between 1949 and 1964, Magritte created 17 versions in oil, with several more paintings in gouache, on the theme of the L’empire des lumières (domain of lights) in which an ordinary scene become uncanny. The idea of a landscape combining day and night proved popular with the artist’s collectors, leading to a number of commissions for new versions, all slightly different in size and composition.
The artist said: “I got the idea that night and day exist together, that they are one. This is reasonable, or at the very least it’s in keeping with our knowledge: in the world night always exists at the same time as day."
It was something he had first explored in 1938 with a work titled Le Poison, which is now in the Museum Boijmans-Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, and depicts a row of suburban buildings under a night sky.
He insisted that each painting in the series was an individual work, writing to his dealer Alexander Iolas “I have to find a way of justifying the replica in my own mind.”
L’empire des lumières. Image courtesy of Sotheby's
The sale beat Magritte's previous auction record by $42.21m, a 53% rise. The previous record was set by L’empire des lumières (1961), which sold for $78.95m at Sotheby's on March 2, 2022.
A Brief History of Magritte at Auction
Sale Date | Title | Price | Record Increase | Venue | City |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2024-11-19 | L'Empire Des Lumières | $121.2m | 53 % | Christie's | New York |
2022-03-02 | L’empire des lumières | $78.95m | 194 % | Sotheby's | London |
2018-11-12 | Le Principe Du Plaisir | $26.83m | 30 % | Sotheby's | New York |
2017-11-13 | L’empire des lumières | $20.56m | 15 % | Christie's | New York |
2017-02-28 | La Corde Sensible | $17.95m | 39 % | Christie's | London |
2014-02-05 | Le Beau Monde | $12.92m | 12 % | Sotheby's | London |
2002-05-07 | L’Empire des lumières (IV) | $11.5m | 77 % | Christie's | New York |
1998-11-19 | Valeurs personnelles | $6.5m | 83 % | Christie's | New York |
1996-06-25 | L'Empire des lumières | $3.54m | 75 % | Christie's | London |
1989-11-27 | La condition humaine II | $2.03m | 35 % | Christie's | London |
1989-05-09 | L'evidence eternelle | $1.5m | 25 % | Sotheby's | New York |
1988-11-11 | Chant de la violette | $1.2m | 96 % | Sotheby's | New York |
1987-06-30 | La Clairvoyance | $612,800 | 47 % | Sotheby's | London |
1987-06-29 | Le chant d'Amour | $416,200 | 8 % | Christie's | London |
1984-12-04 | La Corde Sensible | $386,700 | 2 % | Sotheby's | London |
1981-05-21 | At the threshold of liberty | $380,000 | 41 % | Sotheby's | New York |
1979-11-05 | La Chambre D'Ecoute | $270,000 | 17 % | Sotheby's | New York |
1979-04-02 | La grande Guerre | $231,500 | 34 % | Sotheby's | London |
1970-11-12 | La geante | $172,800 | 147 % | Sotheby's | London |
1970-10-28 | La duree poignardee | $70,000 | 36 % | Sotheby's | New York |
1969-12-10 | Le Palais d'une Courtisane | $51,600 | 59 % | Sotheby's | London |
1969-04-30 | Le seducteur | $32,400 | - | Sotheby's | London |
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