Les Distractions de Dagobert by Leonora Carrington
Photo: Courtesy of Sotheby's
Auction of the Week: Dazzling Surrealist Work by Leonora Carrington Fetches $28.5 Million
A new record was set for the late British artist at Sotheby's in New York
Les Distractions de Dagobert by Leonora Carrington Photo: Courtesy of Sotheby's
A Surrealist painting by Leonora Carrington (1917–2011) fetched $28.5 million, including fees, at Sotheby’s Modern Art Evening Sale in New York on May 15, setting a new auction for the late artist.
The striking 1945 painting, Les Distractions de Dagobert, was estimated to sell for between $12 million and $18 million. The work generated a fierce 10-minute bidding battle, finally selling to the Argentine businessman Eduardo Costantini, the founder of the Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires (MALBA).
The painting is considered to be the most important work of Carrington’s career, revealing her signature surreal imagery and masterful use of color and light. Julian Dawes, Sotheby’s head of impressionist and modern art in New York, called it “the definitive masterpiece of Leonora Carrington’s long and storied career, bearing all the hallmarks of the artist at her absolute height.”
Les Distractions de Dagobert by Leonora Carrington Photo: Courtesy of Sotheby's
“An iconic painting, Les Distractions de Dagobert, is one the most admired works in the history of surrealism and an unparalleled masterpiece of Latin American art,” says Costantini, the buyer of Les Distractions de Dagobert. “I was the underbidder when she reached the artist’s record 30 years ago and tonight once again, we made a new auction record! This masterpiece will be part of a collection where amongst other two important works by Remedios Varo and another record breaking Frida Kahlo are also found.”
The work’s title is a reference to Dagobert, a Merovingian king who ruled the early seventh century, who had a penchant for sexual excess and love of the finer things in life. The layered work is a personal interpretation of the Garden of Earthly Delights and Triptych of Saint Anthony.
The auction follows a surge in interest in the work of the long-overlooked female artists of the Surrealist movement. This painting was the centerpiece of a groundbreaking exhibition in Venice in 2021, for example, titled “Surrealism and Magic: Enchanted Modernity” at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. Auction results have also been steadily climbing: Frieda Kahlo’s Diego y yo sold for $34.9 million at Sotheby’s in New York in 2021, making it the highest price ever for a Latin American artist, and the second highest price achieved at auction for a female artist.
Cover: Les Distractions de Dagobert by Leonora Carrington
Photo: Courtesy of Sotheby's
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