Surrealist Masters on Paper

Now is the perfect time to revisit Surrealism: Sotheby’s has recently confirmed that Surrealist masters are leading the way in market performance, and 2024 saw new auction benchmarks such as René Magritte’s L’empire des lumières (which sold for $121.2 million in November). Signalling further momentum, Sotheby’s Pauline Karpidas: The London Collection Evening Auction on Wednesday 17th September brought dozens of Surrealist works - including Magritte, Dalí, Carrington and Les Lalanne - to market.

 

As the appetite for major paintings continues to surge, the market for works on paper is sure to follow, with lithographs and etchings by the movement's key exponents presenting collectors with a dynamic way to secure their own slice of Surrealism. This resurgence of interest in Surrealism echoes its origins in the 1920s, when the movement was forged in the fires of war and pandemic, reminding collectors that Surrealism has always operated as a response to historical crisis, and continues to do so in our own turbulent era.