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Here Are the 15 Most Expensive Artworks Sold at Auction Around the World in March 2022
Surrealism dominated the top and bottom of our list this month.
![Sotheby's Helena Newman with René Magritte, L'empire des lumières (1961). Courtesy Sotheby's Sotheby's Helena Newman with René Magritte, L'empire des lumières (1961). Courtesy Sotheby's](https://news.artnet.com/app/news-upload/2022/03/9-Sothebys-220302-@haydonperrior-med-1024x683.jpg)
Surrealism dominated the top and bottom of our list this month.
Caroline Goldstein
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The third month of 2022 was marked by a taste for Surrealism, which is having a major moment in the art market and as a set piece for major museum shows in London and New York, as well as the upcoming Venice Biennale, where a book by Leonora Carrington lends the main exhibition its title.
René Magritte’s L’empire des lumières (1961), which had never been sold before (no, not even on the primary market), brought in a hearty $79 million, well over its unofficial estimate of $60 million, trouncing the artist’s previous record of $26.8 million, set in November 2018. Sotheby’s pulled out all the stops to market the painting, transforming the facade of its London headquarters into an apt trompe l’oeil duplicate of the work. The eerie picture, which shows a residential home in dark shadow underneath a blue sky dappled with clouds, comes from a series of 17 paintings and came from the collection Anne-Marie Crowet Gillion, who modeled for the artist and was the daughter of one of his most important patrons.
Another notable lot on this month’s list is the unassuming pile of strawberries by French artist Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin that far exceeded its high estimate of $16.5 million to fetch a stunning $26.8 million after a heated bidding war. Only a week later, the painting made headlines again when the Louvre stepped in, requesting that the French government classify the work as a national treasure in the hopes the museum could raise the money to add it to its collection.
Meanwhile, Sotheby’s Paris’s “Surrealism and Its Legacy” auction was the first in the city dedicated to the Surrealist movement—and it paid off, netting a respectable $36 million total, led by Francis Picabia’s 1929 painting Pavonia. The robin’s egg blue work fetched $10.9 million, setting a new record for the artist.
Below, see the full list of the top 15 most expensive works sold at auction in March 2022.
Rene Magritte, L’empire des lumières (1961) . Image courtesy Sotheby’s.
Estimate: Undisclosed
Final Price: £59,422,000 ($79,430,557)
Where & When: Sotheby’s London, March 2, 2022
Franz Marc, The Foxes (1913). Courtesy of Christie’s Images Ltd. 2022.
Estimate: Undisclosed
Final Price: £42,654,500 ($56,804,501)
Where & When: Christie’s London, March 1, 2022
Francis Bacon, Triptych 1986-7. Courtesy Christie’s of Christie’s Images, Ltd.
Estimate: £35 million to £55 million ($46,610,733 to $73,245,438)
Final Price: £38,459,206 ($51,217,480)
Where & When: Christie’s London, March 1, 2022
Claude Monet, Nymphéas (1914–17). Courtesy of Sotheby’s.
Estimate: £15 million to £20 million ($20,050,795 to $26,734,393)
Final Price: £23,228,500 ($31,049,993)
Where & When: Sotheby’s London, March 2, 2022
Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, Le panier de fraises des bois. Courtesy of ArtCurial.
Estimate: £12 to £15 million ($13,199,868 to $16,499,835)
Final Price: £24,381,400 ($26,819,271)
Where & When: Artcurial Paris, March 23, 2022
Pablo Picasso, La fenêtre ouverte (1929). Courtesy of Christie’s Images, Ltd.
Estimate: £14 million to £24 million ($18,644,293 to $31,961,646)
Final Price: £16,319,500 ($21,733,253)
Where & When: Christie’s London, March 1, 2022
Lucian Freud, Girl with Closed Eyes (1986–87). Courtesy of Christie’s Images, Ltd.
Estimate: £10 million to £15 million ($13,317,352 to $19,976,028)
Final Price: £15,174,500 ($20,208,416)
Where & When: Christie’s London, March 1, 2022
Andy Warhol, Silver Liz(Ferus Type) (1963). Courtesy of Shinwa Auction Co.
Estimate: JPY2,300,000,000 to JPY3,450,000,000 ($18,861,642 to $28,292,463)
Final Price: JPY2,300,000,000 ($18,861,642)
Where & When: Shinwa Auction Co., Tokyo, March 30, 2022
David Hockney, Garrowby Hill (2017). Courtesy of Sotheby’s.
Estimate: £7.5 million to £10 million ($10,025,397 to $14,035,556)
Final Price: £14,093,950 ($18,839,660)
Where & When: Sotheby’s London, March 2, 2022
Pablo Picasso, Buste de femme accoudée, gris et blanc (1938). Courtesy of Sotheby’s.
Estimate: £10 million to £15 million ($13,367,196 to $20,050,795)
Final Price: £11,968,300 ($15,998,262)
Where & When: Sotheby’s London, March 2, 2022
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Il Duce (1982). Courtesy of Christie’s Images, Ltd.
Estimate: CNY 80,000,000 to CNY 120,000,000 ($12,672,464 to $19,008,696)
Final Price: CNY 94,160,000 ($14,915,490)
Where & When: Christie’s Shanghai, March 1, 2022
Vincent van Gogh, A Pair of Lovers (Eglogue en Provence) (1888). Courtesy of Sotheby’s.
Estimate: £7 million to £10 million ($9,357,037 to $13,367,196)
Final Price: £10,015,000 ($13,387,247)
Where & When: Sotheby’s London, March 2, 2022
Marc Chagall, Le jongleur (1943). Courtesy of Christie’s Images, Ltd.
Estimate: £7.5 million to £10.5 million ($9,988,014 to $13,983,220)
Final Price: £8,877,000 ($11,821,813)
Where & When: Christie’s London, March 1, 2022
Claude Monet, Massif de chrysanthèmes (1897). Courtesy of Sotheby’s.
Estimate: £10 million to £15 million ($13,367,196 to $20,050,795)
Final Price: £8,291,500 ($11,083,411)
Where & When: Sotheby’s London, March 2, 2022
Francis Picavia, Pavonia (1929). Image courtesy of Sotheby’s.
Estimate: €6 million to €8 million ($6,597,031 to $8,796,041)
Final Price: €9,996,700 ($10,991,423)
Where & When: Sotheby’s Paris, March 16, 2022