Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

  • Contact Us
  • Podcast
  • Newsletter
  • AMM Fantasy Collecting Game
  • AMMpro

Magritte’s the Ticket

October 28, 2011 by Marion Maneker

The Observer covers Blain DiDonna’s inaugural show and provides a little background on the Magritte market in the process:

Magritte, then, would seem to be an ideal fit. The works on display would appeal to anyone who walked in off the street—one, in fact, Le Domaine enchanté (II) (1953), is a mural from a casino in Knokke-le Zoute, Belgium. The show is playful, frequently nude and familiar. There’s a man with an apple over his face and a pipe that isn’t a pipe.

“The market is very strong for Magritte,” Mr. Di Donna said, walking through the gallery. “It’s an artist that, over the last 10 years, has increased enormously in value. … It’s also an artist that’s instantly recognizable. I think his imagery is fun, fresh, witty. There’s eroticism, there’s word play. I think a lot of the current marketing, all those images that you’re bombarded with every day, owe a lot to Magritte.”

According to Artnet, eight of the artist’s top 10 prices were achieved in the past five years. In this show, Mr. Di Donna has a work that’s in the same series as L’Empire des lumières (1952), which set the artist’s highest price in 2002 when it sold for $12.7 million at Christie’s. Mr. Di Donna’s 1954 version shares its name.

Of the 29 paintings, six are for sale, with prices that range from $700,000 to $7 million. The show marks Mr. Di Donna’s first curatorial effort and came together in some 10 months (“It is easier when you know an artist very well and you know the collectors,” he said). He stopped before the exhibit’s signature piece, Les Liaisons dangereuses (1935), which features a naked woman holding a mirror that displays her bare midsection going in the opposite direction. The painting hasn’t been displayed publicly for 25 years, and Mr. Di Donna’s enthusiasm for it is obvious.

You’re So Blain (Observer)

More from Art Market Monitor

  • Lost Magritte ‘Discovered’ at MoMA…and Moderna Museet…and…Lost Magritte ‘Discovered’ at MoMA…and Moderna Museet…and…
  • Magritte by the NumbersMagritte by the Numbers
  • Sotheby’s Has 90 Works on Paper from Spielvogels with $40-60m Estimate for NovemberSotheby’s Has 90 Works on Paper from Spielvogels with $40-60m Estimate for November
  • Sotheby’s Sells Jean Stein’s Art CollectionSotheby’s Sells Jean Stein’s Art Collection
  • Di Donna Sets Up ShopDi Donna Sets Up Shop
  • Arp on the MarchArp on the March
  • Print
  • Tweet

Filed Under: Artists, Dealers Tagged With: Magritte

Advertise on Art Market Monitor with Nectar Ads

Top Posts

  • The Famous Rauschenberg Scull Shoving Match Didn't Go Down the Way You Think It Did
  • David Hockney's $20m Pacific Coast Highway & Santa Monica
  • Norman Rockwell's Not Gay. But Is He a Great Artist?
  • The Middle Market Jumps Higher: New York Contemporary Sales Analysis, Nov 2019
  • Max Ernst's Long Career Captured in London Show this October
  • The Economic Value of Michelangelo's David
  • Four of Picasso's Women Valued at $28m Come to Christie's from Rose-Walters Collection
  • Artelligence Podcast: Adam Lindemann on How Auctions Work
  • Peploe Leads Scottish Colourists at Lyon & Turnbull
  • How Park West Sold $93m in Peter Max Paintings


  • About Us/ Contact
  • Podcast
  • AMMpro
  • Newsletter
  • Art Loans
  • FAQ

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Advertise on Art Market Monitor