Spring sees iconic art going under the auctioneer’s hammer

The art market has seen a flurry of high-profile sales as the spring auction season hots up. Chris Carter reports

L’empire des lumières by René Magritte
L’empire des lumières by René Magritte
(Image credit: © Sotheby’s)

The spring auction season has arrived. Last week saw a flurry of high-profile sales, including the debuts of three modern masterpieces. First up was Pablo Picasso’s La fenêtre ouverte at Christie’s in London. The surrealist piece portraying Picasso’s muse and lover, Marie-Thérèse Walter, was painted on 22 November 1929, “in the midst of a heady moment of creativity”, according to Christie’s.

Picasso had met Walter just two years earlier. Forming part of the Atelier series of works, other examples reside in New York’s Museum of Modern Art and in the Musée National d’Art Moderne, in Paris. In the painting, Walter had yet to take on the appearance displayed in so many of Picasso’s later works. But even so, the young woman’s profile and neat 1920s bob are recognisable. Picasso, who put himself in the painting too, is much less so. The artist takes the form of two large feet crossed with an arrow. La fenêtre ouverte fetched £16.3m on 1 March.

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Chris Carter
Wealth Editor, MoneyWeek

Chris Carter spent three glorious years reading English literature on the beautiful Welsh coast at Aberystwyth University. Graduating in 2005, he left for the University of York to specialise in Renaissance literature for his MA, before returning to his native Twickenham, in southwest London. He joined a Richmond-based recruitment company, where he worked with several clients, including the Queen’s bank, Coutts, as well as the super luxury, Dorchester-owned Coworth Park country house hotel, near Ascot in Berkshire.

Then, in 2011, Chris joined MoneyWeek. Initially working as part of the website production team, Chris soon rose to the lofty heights of wealth editor, overseeing MoneyWeek’s Spending It lifestyle section. Chris travels the globe in pursuit of his work, soaking up the local culture and sampling the very finest in cuisine, hotels and resorts for the magazine’s discerning readership. He also enjoys writing his fortnightly page on collectables, delving into the fascinating world of auctions and art, classic cars, coins, watches, wine and whisky investing.

You can follow Chris on Instagram.