Last year, a Surrealist drawing by René Magritte sold on eBay for the bargain price of $1,580. Next month, the pen-on-paper work is heading to auction with a much larger price tag.
Magritte Drawing Predicted to Sell for Six Figures
New Jersey auctioneer Rago/Wright will offer the René Magritte drawing at auction on May 21 with a high estimate of $150,000—nearly one hundred times the eBay purchase price of $1,580. The undated and untitled drawing was executed in ballpoint pen, colored pencil, and pencil on paper. It depicts three white chess pieces towering over a landscape and into a cloudy blue sky.
The drawing brings together motifs that frequently appear in Magritte’s surreal body of work. The Belgian Surrealist is perhaps best known for his 1929 painting The Treachery of Images, which paradoxically depicts a pipe alongside the French words “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” (“This is not a pipe”). Nearly a century later, Magritte’s work is as recognizable—and perplexing—as ever.
How Did a Magritte Drawing End Up on eBay?
The Magritte drawing originally belonged to Mora Henskens. She was the companion of attorney Harry Torczyner, a longtime friend and legal advisor to the artist. Henskens acquired the drawing while visiting René Magritte’s widow, Georgette Berger Magritte, and it remained in her family’s collection until 2022. Then, the Magritte drawing was sold through VanDeRee Auctions to an owner who later listed it on eBay.
“This certainly isn’t an everyday thing in the auction world,” said Joe Stanfield, senior specialist and fine art director at Rago/Wright, in a statement. “It’s always exciting to help resurface unknown, and under-known, works from legendary artists—that our consignor found this Magritte on eBay just adds to the thrill.”
René Magritte’s Recent Record-Setting Auctions
Works by René Magritte have been performing especially well at auction. Last year, Magritte’s 1954 painting L’empire des Lumières sold for $121.2 million against a $95 million estimate at Christie’s New York, setting a new auction record—not just for the Belgian Surrealist, but for all Surrealist art. Another work from the same series fetched $79.4 million (£59.4 million) at Sotheby’s London in 2022.
Additionally, according to the Artnet Price Database, several pen-on-paper works by Magritte have fetched six figures at auction in recent years. For example, a 1964 Magritte drawing of a horse with a tower growing from its head sold for $200,000 at Sotheby’s New York in 2016. Another such drawing—this one depicting a jacket that stands on its own—sold for $155,000 at Christie’s in New York in 2013.
