Surrealist Masters in London

Surrealist Masters in London

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  René Magritte, Le Repas de noces, 1940.
  Estimate £900,000–1,200,000.

  One of the finest gouaches by Magritte to appear on the market in recent years, Le Repas de noces has remained in the same private collection for almost 50 years. This work combines two images that Magritte explored around this time: a reclining lion, the trademark of a Brussels food retailer that was a part of everyday life, and an egg on a table top.
  
  

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  André Masson, Hôtel des automates, 1939-41.
  Estimate £1,500,000–2,000,000.

  Complex in its composition and bewilderingly turbulent in its subject-matter, Hôtel des automates is divided into several compartments, understood to be rooms of the hotel indicated by the work’s title. The rooms are populated with ‘automatons’ – part human, part machine-like creatures – engaged in activities that are not entirely interpretable yet are strongly suggestive of both violence and sex, a key paradigm of Surrealism.
  
  

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  Jean Arp, Torse, 1931. Estimate £2,500,000–3,500,000.

  While essentially abstract, Torse  alludes to the human body and the smooth contours of the marble, conjuring a slim waist and the delicate curve of the back, express a distinctly feminine aesthetic. Without extremities or any literal articulation of detail, Torse succeeds in expressing Arp’s passionate sense of the female body in the suggestions of its curves and folds: its wholeness lies in its power to evoke.
  
  

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  René Magritte, Souvenir de voyage, circa 1962-63.
  Estimate: £2,500,000–3,500,000.

  Of the variety of symbols so particular to Magritte's œuvre, the apple is one of the most iconic. Apples had played many roles in Magritte's mature paintings, from those superimposed against the face of the bowler-hatted man, to the petrified, monumental fruit in Souvenir de voyage.
  
  

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  Paul Delvaux, Filles au bord de l'eau, 1966.
  Estimate £1,700,000–2,200,000.

  Painted in 1966, Filles au bord de l’eau is an alluring example of Surrealist Art, bringing together some of the key elements that defined Delvaux's mature œuvre. This dream-like scene depicts at once an interior and exterior setting, charging the viewer’s imagination with a wealth of association and painterly prowess.
  
  

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