Surrealism’s centenary excites collectors

This year’s centenary of André Breton’s first Surrealist Manifesto (1924) has been a key moment for this historical and revolutionary art movement. Artprice takes a look at the anniversary’s impact on the market prices of Surrealist artists.

Surrealism is undoubtedly one of the most famous and popular artistic movements in art history. This year, it has been given a particularly high profile with a string of spectacular tributes to mark its centenary. Among the many different manifestations, The Pompidou Center in Paris has hosted a masterful retrospective and auction houses around the world have proposed a whole range of iconic masterpieces. In the spring, a captivating painting by Leonora Carrington was put up for sale, and this autumn a work by René Magritte – described by Christie’s as the most important Surrealist work ever offered at auction – fetched the extraordinary sum of $121 million.

But, apart from the movement’s key figures, we ask whether the anniversary lifted other Surrealist artists against the backdrop of a particularly morose market ahead of the American elections? Has enthusiasm filtered down from the stars to the movement’s other artists?

 

Content:

Was the centenary of Surrealism a celebration for the art market?
The big names are doing well: Magritte and Dali
Three lesser-known Surrealists have gained momentum

 

Was the centenary of Surrealism a celebration for the art market?

In recent years, the art market has had a voracious appetite for works by the great Surrealist artists, including highly profitable resales of works by DALI, a new record at over $12 million for MAN RAY (two years ago) and a series of new records for MAGRITTE. This favorable context prompted auction houses to use the centenary opportunity to bring Surrealism into the limelight.

Christie’s and Sotheby’s began with their traditional sales dedicated to Surrealism. In March, The Art of the Surreal took $75 million in London, and in October, Surrealism and its Legacy took $24.4 million.

But this year’s most distinctive feature came from a number of private collections that fuelled Parisian sales. In April, Christie’s dispersed the Marion Meyer Collection (entirely dedicated to Man Ray) for a total of $5 million, dwarfing the initial estimate. In June, Piasa offered works from the Geneviève and Jean-Paul Kahn Collection, one of which (Les Trois Garces by Dorothea Tanning) fetched $706,000, and another titled Other Answers by Kay Sage which fetched $1.1 million (respectively the artist’s 4th and 3rd best-ever results).

Lastly, in September, Christie’s offered works from the Paul & Jacqueline Duchein Collection in a sale that posted an exceptional sold through rate of 96%, with 58% of the lots exceeding their high estimates, once again illustrating Surrealism’s continued appeal.

 

The big names are doing well: Magritte and Dali

While Parisian sales have fueled the market, the year’s big prize came up for sale in New York. On 19 November, Christie’s offered an extraordinary version of Rene Magritte’s The Empire of Lights (1954), announcing it – with customary fanfare – as the most important Surrealist work ever offered at auction.

The success of this painting’s sale was already assured by a third-party guarantee estimated at $95 million. This means that someone had agreed to buy the painting for $95 million before the sale, knowing that they would receive an undisclosed percentage of the capital gain if the bidding exceeded that threshold.

But the bidding defied expectations by fetching over $121 million, far higher than any other art auction result this year, and making Magritte the year’s most expensive artist ahead of the usual signatures, Basquiat, Picasso and Warhol. Above all, it has given a boost to a depressed premium market which, since 2023, has been struggling after the ‘record euphoria’ in 2022 (itself a rebound from the Covid pandemic lockdown period).

Read also: Klimt vs Magritte (2024)

Salvador Dalí, another essential figure in the Surrealism movement, also benefitted from the ‘anniversary effect’ with more than 2,700 transactions, mainly for his prints. This record volume fueled art auction sales in America, France, Switzerland and the UK.

Record transactions for Salvador Dali this year (©artprice.com)

 

Three lesser-known Surrealists have gained momentum

Not all Surrealists are as famous as René Magritte or Frida Kahlo (for all that she may be considered a Surrealist…), but the movement’s centenary allowed the discovery of some lesser-known figures.

Among them, Fred DEUX, an artist of rare intensity, totally absorbed by drawing. His work remains affordable since his personal auction record stands at just $28,000 for his quadriptych Ages of life (Les âges de la vie) (1984-1985), hammered last June at Artcurial. That sum – four times higher than its high estimate – was a fitting recognition of the work of this excellent artist.

Read: Fred Deux, a highly talented draftsman (2015)

Another surprise result was hammered for a work by Kurt SELIGMANN, friend of Alberto Giacometti and neighbor of Salvador Dalí in Paris, when his painting Game of Chance No.2 (1949) sold for $621,700, ten times its pre-sale estimate. In just twenty years, the value of this work has gained +677%, a sure sign of renewed interest in this enigmatic Surrealist.

Lastly, a work by the Italian artist Enrico DONATI, the last artist to officially join the movement in 1942, saw its price rise from $139,800 at Christie’s in 2018, to $456,400 at Sotheby’s last October. Completed in 1944, and probably given its title La méduse volante by André Breton, it posted a spectacular increase of 226% in six years.

 

Fred Deux

Ages of life (1984-1985): auction record
Lead pencil on paper. Quadriptych, 109 x 71 cm
Estimated: $5,400 – $7,600
Sold for $28,500 (Artcurial Paris, 06 May 2024)

 

Kurt Seligmann

Game of Chance No.2 (1949): auction record +677% in 21 yrs
Oil on canvas. 109 x 104 cm
Estimated: $43,240 – $64,900
Sold for $621,700 (Wannenes, Milan, 04 July 2024)

 

 

Enrico Donati

La Medusa volante (1944): +226% in 6 years
Oil on canvas. 126 x 177 cm
Estimated: $353,200 – $413,000
Sold for $456,400 (Sotheby’s, Paris, 18 October 2024)

 

These records and revaluations confirm that 2024 was a key year for surrealist sales. In a year marked by turbulence, surrealism has established itself as the ultimate safe haven. Boosted by the centenary of its manifesto, it has injected new energy into a premium segment that had been losing momentum. Beyond the multimillion-dollar auctions, this anniversary has also brought lesser-known talents into the spotlight, some of whom remain surprisingly accessible.

And that’s not all! In May, Leonora Carrington made waves with a stunning record of $28.5 million for Les Distractions de Dagobert (1945). Following in her wake, several surrealist women, such as Jane Graverol, captivated collectors and reached new heights. Join us next week to discover which artists created the surprise.

 

Surrealism centenary – René Magritte – Salvador Dali