A never-before-seen Magritte sold for more than 11 million euros at an auction

The Hesitation Waltz, a work by René Magritte offered for the first time on the market, was sold for 11.17 million euros with fees, Thursday October 19 in Paris, announced the Sotheby’s auction house. Dating from the most popular period among collectors, this painting by the master of surrealism did not reach its high estimate, which was 15 million euros. During the same sale, Sotheby’s sold around ten other modernist works, notably by Kupka, Lucio Fontana, Klein and Hélion, for a total amount of 37.48 million euros.

The painting depicts two of Magritte’s famous apples wearing a wolf mask and blending into the night shadows, in the contrast of a bright blue sky dotted with the painter’s emblematic clouds. The Hesitation Waltz is part of a group of eight oils. It is only the second painting from the series to be put up for auction. The previous copy, The Married Priest, was proposed in 2007 and represented the opposite paradox, with dark skies and lit apples. This work sold for 5.3 million pounds (more than 6 million euros).