The centrepiece of Christie’s yearly Surreal and Dada auction, The Art of The Surreal Evening Sale, will include René Magritte’s L’ami intime (The Intimate Friend). The event is scheduled to take place in London on 7 March. Held in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of André Breton’s October 1924 Surrealist Manifesto, the painting is being auctioned off for the first time since 1980.

L’ami intime, or The Intimate Friend, is a painting by René Magritte that depicts a mysterious person with a bowler hat. It is owned by the Gilbert and Lena Kaplan Collection and was last displayed in Brussels at the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique in 1998. Christie’s LA will present the piece from 5-6 February, and Rockefeller Centre in New York will show it from 9-14 February.

Olivier Camu, Deputy Chairman, Impressionist and Modern Art, Christie’s, London: “It is extremely poetic, silent and mysterious, especially given the unknown identity of the sitter together with its evocative title. We are looking forward to the market’s reaction to this exquisite painting, the like of which has not been seen at auction since the Torczyner sale of Magritte paintings in 1998.”

Les rêveries du promeneur solitaire (The Musings of a Solitary Wanderer), painted by Magritte in 1926, features the earliest appearance of a guy wearing a bowler hat. Within Magritte’s body of work, the figure began to represent the bourgeoisie, the faceless, anonymous masses, the common working man, and the lone wanderer. The bowler-hat wearing, distinctly commonplace but mysteriously anonymous man is seen almost as a silhouette from behind in L’ami intime (The Intimate Friend). He’s staring out the window at a cloud-filled sky and a placid mountain landscape, seemingly unaware of the bizarre sight behind him of a baguette and wine glass hovering in midair. A total masterpiece. No doubt the auction room will be buzzing when it comes to be sold.

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Image: René Magritte, L’ami intime (The Intimate Friend) (1958, estimate £30,000,000 – 50,000,000) © Christie’s Images Ltd 2024.