Magritte painting nets auction record of $121 million

The National Times - Magritte painting nets auction record of $121 million

Magritte painting nets auction record of $121 million / Photo: © AFP

The seminal 1954 painting had been valued at $95 million, and the previous record for a work by Magritte (1898-1967) was $79 million, set in 2022.

After a nearly 10-minute bidding war on Tuesday, "Empire of Light" ("L'Empire des lumieres") was sold for $121,160,000, "achieving a world-record price for the artist and for a surrealist work of art at auction", according to auction house Christie's.

The painting -- depicting a house at night, illuminated by a lamp post, while under a bright, blue sky -- is one of a series by the Belgian artist showing the interplay of shadow and light.

"Empire of Light" was part of the private collection of Mica Ertegun, an interior designer who fled communist Romania to settle in the United States where she became an influential figure in the arts world.

She died in late 2023 and was married to the late Ahmet Ertegun, the music magnate who founded the Atlantic Records label.

The sale of the Magritte painting was an expected highlight of this week's autumn sales season in New York, at a time when the art market has seen a slowdown since last year.

Christie's -- which is controlled by Artemis, the investment holding company owned by the Pinault family -- said sales totaled $2.1 billion in the first half of this year.

That is down for the second straight year, after a peak of $4.1 billion in 2022 as the world emerged from the coronavirus pandemic.

During the same Christie's auction on Tuesday, a celebrated 1964 painting of a gas station by 86-year-old Ed Ruscha, titled "Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western Being Torn in Half," sold for $68.26 million, setting a new auction record for the American pop artist.

T.Cunningham--TNT

Mutual fund returns show shifting leaders across market-cap categories

Equity mutual funds are classified into different categories based on their investments across market capitalisations, primarily large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap funds. Large-cap funds invest in well-established companies that tend to be relatively less volatile, while mid-cap funds focus on medium-sized companies.

BHEL wins Adani Power projects valued at up to ₹28,000 crore

New Delhi, Nov 4 (PTI) State-owned BHEL on Wednesday said the company has received four projects, worth ranging between Rs 20,000 crore and Rs 28,000 crore, from Adani Power. The fresh orders involve supply of equipment (boiler, turbine and generator along with auxiliaries) and agreed services for the said projects, BHEL said in an exchange filing.

IndiGo holds talks with Embraer over potential order for 100 aircraft

By Abhijith Ganapavaram and Aditi Shah NEW DELHI, Nov 4 (Reuters) - India's largest airline IndiGo is in early-stage talks to ‌buy 100 regional jets from Embraer, with options for about ⁠50 more, three people with direct knowledge of the matter said, in what could ‌be one largest commercial aircraft orders placed with the Brazilian planemaker. IndiGo ‌and Embraer did not immediately respond ‌to ⁠requests for comments.

India seeks threefold increase in coal stocks to prevent summer power shortages

India has asked coal miners and railways to help triple stockpiles at power stations before next summer, an ambitious target aimed at averting shortages that could also raise tensions with other users of the fossil fuel. The coal, power and railways ministries jointly set a goal to boost inventories at the plants from current levels near 18 million tons to at least 55 million by the end of the fiscal year in March, as reported by people familiar with the matter.