Christie's Going Once No. 423 | Magritte’s La reconnaissance infinie

From: Christie's - Saturday Feb 22, 2025 03:52 pm

Christie’s – Going Once

This week’s stories

La reconnaissance infinie — René Magritte’s search for our place in the universe

This 1933 painting of a small man floating on an orb — our planet, perhaps — is part metaphysical enquiry and part testimony to the artist’s friendship with his fellow Surrealist, the poet Paul Colinet

From a ‘striking’ Carrington to a ‘kaleidoscopic’ Frankenthaler: our specialists’ picks from the Contemporary New York series

Jenny Saville’s Study for Pietà IV — her response to the marble sculpture Michelangelo made as a monument for his own tomb

American abstraction: tour the collection of Mel and Martha Horowitz, showcasing Ruscha, Gilliam, Guston and Truitt

Explore the ‘sensuality of form’ in Fernando Botero’s diverse subjects, spanning bullfighters, bordellos, and Woman with Dog

Ahead of the inaugural Gooding Christie’s Amelia Island Auctions in Florida this March, brush up on marques, models and eras — from vintage Ferraris and Porsches to Bugattis and beyond

Editor’s picks

Between 2021 and 2023, JJ Manford made a series of pictures of interiors in which works by other artists, from Miró to Sophie Taeuber-Arp, figured prominently. Library Interior with Frank Walter, a richly coloured image in oilstick, pastel and Flashe paint on linen, includes work by Walter, a celebrated Antiguan artist. Here, as elsewhere, Manford’s respect for his creative forebears is palpable

Estimate: $4,000-6,000

until 28‌ February‌, Online

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Joan Miró was fascinated by the ‘radiating force’ of everyday objects and their capacity, when combined, to create ‘poetic shock’. Although cast in bronze, Le roi guerrier appears to boast a piece of weathered wood for a body, while a metal hoop used for embroidery serves as a crown. This one-eyed king stands 120cm tall and, with Miró’s familiar playfulness, wields a long spoon in place of a sword

Estimate: £150,000-200,000

7‌ March‌, London

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Simplicity and innocent joy are celebrated in Feng Zikai’s Flying a Kite, one of many images the artist made of open-air fun and games. Executed with great economy in ink and colour, the work depicts what we may take to be a family group with a butterfly-shaped kite soaring above them. In Chinese culture, this centuries-old tradition is seen as a symbol of good luck, longevity and freedom

Estimate: HK$50,000-70,000

until 26‌ February‌, Online

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The Brooklyn-based artist Michael Kagan has long been fascinated by astronauts. His 2016 painting Mercury 7 is based on a famous photograph of the seven men selected to take part in Project Mercury, the earliest US space programme. In the top left is Alan Shepard, who in 1961 became the first American to go into space and 10 years later walked on the moon as part of the Apollo14 mission

Estimate: $30,000-50,000

27‌ February‌, New York

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What’s on

New York sale preview | Seoul

Highlights from Japanese and Korean Art, 27 & 28‌ February‌

Browse now | New York

Latin American Art, 28‌ February‌

Live for bidding | New York, Online

Augmented Intelligence, until 5‌ March‌

Spotlight on

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Paul Delvaux, the Belgian painter who created enigmatic, dreamlike worlds — yet distanced his work from the Surrealists and psychoanalytic interpretation

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Collecting works on paper: need-to-know terms, how to hang your art and more, with sale highlights by Carmen Herrera, Franz Kline and Mark Tansey

•

The rich and varied art produced in the New World from the late 15th century until around‌ 1820‌ — an expert overview with tips from leading collectors

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René Magritte (1896-1967), La reconnaissance infinie, 1933 (detail). Oil on canvas. 39⅜ x 27⅝ in (100 x 70.2 cm). Estimate: £6,000,000-9,000,000. Offered in The Art of the Surreal Evening Sale on 5‌ March‌ 2025 at Christie’s in London. Artwork: © ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2025 // Leonora Carrington (1917-2011), Ikon, 1988. Egg tempera on panel. 30½ x 24 in (77.5 x 61 cm). Estimate: $1,200,000-1,800,000. Offered in Latin American Art on 28‌ February‌ 2025 at Christie’s in New York. Artwork: © 2025 Leonora Carrington / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / María Magdalena Campos-Pons (b. 1959), Bin Bin Lady Dakar Swatch, 2006. Polaroid photographs, in eight parts. Each: 29⅖ x 25 in (74.7 x 63.5 cm). Estimate: $150,000-200,000. Offered in Latin American Art on 28‌ February‌ 2025 at Christie’s in New York. Artwork: © María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Courtesy of Gallery Wendi Norris / Ward Bennett (1918-2003), one of a pair of ‘Sled’ lounge chairs, 1966. Chrome-plated steel, wicker, bamboo, suede upholstery. 30¼ x 28½ x 27 in (77 x 72.5 x 69 cm) (each). Estimate: $4,000-6,000. Offered in Modern Collector from 25‌ February‌-11‌ March‌ 2025 at Christie’s Online, New York / Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011), Concerto, 1982. Acrylic on canvas. 53 x 39¼ in (134.6 x 99.7 cm). Estimate: $500,000-700,000. Offered in Post-War to Present on 27‌ February‌ 2025 at Christie’s in New York. Artwork: © 2025 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York // Jenny Saville (b. 1970), Study for Pietà IV, 2019-20 (detail). Charcoal and pastel on paper. 59¾ x 48 in (151.8 x 122 cm). Estimate: £800,000-1,200,000. Offered in the 20th/21st Century: London Evening Sale on 5‌ March‌ 2025 at Christie’s in London. Artwork: © Jenny Saville. All rights reserved, DACS 2025 // Sam Gilliam (1933-2022), January Ice, 1974. Acrylic on beveled edge canvas. 29 x 74 in (73.7 x 188 cm). Estimate: $80,000-120,000. Artwork: © 2025 Sam Gilliam / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / Anne Truitt (1921-2004), Foxleigh I, 1975. Acrylic on wood. 52¼ x 5½ x 4 in (132.7 x 14 x 10.2 cm). Estimate: $180,000-250,000. Artwork: © Estate of Anne Truitt. All rights reserved 2025/Bridgeman Images / Philip Guston (1913-1980), Red Black, 1958. Oil on paper laid down on illustration board. 21⅞ x 29⅞ in (55.6 x 75.9 cm). Estimate: $200,000-300,000. Artwork: © The Estate of Philip Guston, courtesy Hauser & Wirth / Robert Mangold (b. 1937), Untitled (blue-green), 1974. Acrylic, coloured pencil and black pencil on canvas. 52 x 52 in (132.1 x 132.1 cm). Estimate: $180,000-250,000. Artwork: © 2025 Robert Mangold / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. All offered in Post-War to Present on 27‌ February‌ 2025 at Christie’s in New York // Fernando Botero (1932-2023), Woman with Dog, 1997 (detail). Oil on canvas. 51½ x 39⅜ in (130.8 x 100 cm). Estimate: $600,000-800,000. Offered in Latin American Art on 28‌ February‌ 2025 at Christie’s in New York. Artwork: © Fernando Botero, reproduced by permission // A 1955 Ferrari 375 MM Berlinetta. Estimate: $8,000,000-10,000,000. Offered in Gooding Christie’s Amelia Island Auctions on 6-7‌ March‌ 2025 in Amelia Island, Florida. Photo by Mathieu Heurtault. Copyright and courtesy of Gooding & Company, LLC // José Clemente Orozco (1883-1949), Zapatistas, 1931 (detail). Oil on canvas. 15 x 18⅛ in (38.1 x 46 cm). Estimate: $200,000-300,000. Offered in Latin American Art on 28‌ February‌ at Christie’s in New York // Detail of Holly Herndon (b. 1980) and Mat Dryhurst (b. 1984), Embedding Study 1 & 2 (from the xhairymutantx series), minted on 5 February 2025. Thermal dye diffusion transfer prints. Each: 47¾ x 71⅝ in (119 x 180 cm). Embedding Study #1: PNG (1,418 x 2,126 pixels); Embedding Study #2: PNG (1,772 x 2,660 pixels). Estimate: $70,000-90,000. Offered in Augmented Intelligence until 5‌‌ March‌‌ 2025 at Christie’s Online, New York. Artwork: © Holly Herndon & Mat Dryhurst, Courtesy of Fellowship Photos Inc // Paul Delvaux (1897-1994), Nuit de Noël, 1956 (detail). Oil on masonite in the artist’s painted frame. 49¾ x 69½ in (126.5 x 176.4 cm). Estimate: £1,000,000-2,000,000. Offered in The Art of the Surreal Evening Sale on 5‌ March‌ 2025 at Christie’s in London. Artwork: © Foundation Paul Delvaux, Sint-Idesbald - SABAM Belgium/DACS 2025

Christie's Newsletters

Christie's Going Once No. 423 | Magritte’s La reconnaissance infinie

La reconnaissance infinie — René Magritte’s search for our place in the universe

From a ‘striking’ Carrington to a ‘kaleidoscopic’ Frankenthaler: our specialists’ picks from the Contemporary New York series

Jenny Saville’s Study for Pietà IV — her response to the marble sculpture Michelangelo made as a monument for his own tomb

American abstraction: tour the collection of Mel and Martha Horowitz, showcasing Ruscha, Gilliam, Guston and Truitt

Explore the ‘sensuality of form’ in Fernando Botero’s diverse subjects, spanning bullfighters, bordellos, and Woman with Dog

Ahead of the inaugural Gooding Christie’s Amelia Island Auctions in Florida this March, brush up on marques, models and eras — from vintage Ferraris and Porsches to Bugattis and beyond

Editor’s picks

What’s on

Spotlight on

Private Sales: Our best kept secret

20th/21st Century Art London