Sotheby’s reveals the title of a blockbuster for sale by British socialite and art patron Pauline Karpidas, which will be auctioned in London on September 17, 18 and 19.
The day, night and online auctions include contents of her “unique” London home, which has been described by the house as “the largest collection of surrealism that has emerged in recent history”.
Oil paintings by René Magritte La Statue Volante (1940-41) is a robbery, and it is estimated that it will take out 9 million pounds – 12 million pounds (12 million pounds – 16 million pounds). The work was originally obtained directly from the artist by the late Greek-American gallerist Alexander Iolas, who inspired Karpidas to start collecting 50 years ago when he encountered it. Sotheby’s said that before entering her collection in 1985, it introduced in two shows “that played a role in Magritte’s international success, in 1959 at the Iolas’s New York Gallery, and part of Magritte’s first museum retrospective in the United States, at the Dallas Museum of Art Museum in 1960.”
The 250 items sold at auction are expected to bring £60 million (US$81 million), the highest estimate for a single collection in Europe La Statue Volante Selling very well.
There are 10 Margaret’s works on sale, including Draw a game Blanchestarting in 1937 (estimated: £1 million – £1.5 million); a vibrant blue bust têtestarting in 1960 (estimated: £300,000 to £500,000), occupied Karpidas’ bookshelf; and Les Menottes de Cuivrestarting from 1936 (estimated: £300,000 to £500,000). The latter is Venus de MiloThis may have been created for inclusion in the 1936 “The Surrealist Exhibition” held in Paris.
Four pieces by Andy Warhol, who became a close friend of Karpidas, will also be under the hammer. “Surrealism unlocks the unconscious’s foundations to rethink how they view and portray the world around them,” Aleksandra Ziemiszewska, head of sales at Sotheby’s Modern Day, said in a statement. “Its echoes exist in Warhol’s work, especially in his exploration of mortality and fear of his existence.”
Warhol’s Madonna and self-portrait with bones (after Monk) and Screaming (after Munch)in 1984, was estimated at £1.5 million – £2 million and £2 million – £3 million. “These paintings come from Warhol’s ‘Art’ series, where he transformed the most well-known and iconic images in art history through his iconic popular aesthetics (from Porticelli’s)’ The birth of Venus To Leonardo da Vinci’s The last supper,” Sotheby said.
House Europe Chairman Oliver Barker will take control of the scene next month. He told him: “Paulin is imaginative, bold, bold, and she is also an embodiment of a great collector, which means there is something special in every job she has ever obtained.” Artnews. “It’s the best, with the most magical history of ownership, an artist or designer who enjoys real friendships by her or designers, or combined with all of these things.”
Buck says Magritte’s La Statue Volante “It has to be one of the greatest works that artists have surfaced on the market.”
The sale also includes furniture and design works. Barker points to the “unique structure Végétale bed” by the late French sculptor and designer Claude Lalanne. “It blends Pauline’s signature pattern so brilliantly, the owl,” he said. “Every time I see it, I think of the beds that Peggy Guggenheim and Alexander Calder made for her.” Pauline and Peggy – Two extraordinary customers, both of whom not only breathe art alive, but also sleep in it. ”
Works by Pablo Picasso, Niki de Saint Phalle, Yves Tanguy, Salvador Dalí, Leonora Carrington and Dorothea Tanning will also be on the street. Tanguy’s Surreal Landscape Tire Inconnu (1929) estimates are £10,000-1.5 million ($2 million-$2.6 million), while Dali’s Portrait de Gala Galerina (1941), estimated at £350,000 to £450,000, or £465,000 to £600,000, was a rare pencil drawing of his wife and the Muse party, who met his love at first sight in an encounter in 1929.
“One of the things I found out that Kalpida is her endlessly,” said Buck. “You could say she is ‘magnificent’ in the art world, but she is also a magnet: fanatic, entertaining, energetic, smart, smart, endless curiosity. You want to be the kind of person around you – that’s definitely one of the reasons many great artists and designers chose to be. I met Pauline on the first day and I quickly attracted those honors.
Buck said that participating in sales has always been one of his “professional highlights.”
Karpidas, known for building close friendships with many of the artists she collected, was born in a modest house in Manchester, before she moved to Athens in the 1960s, where she met her future husband, the Greek transport giant Magninate Constantinos Karpidas.
In October 2023, Sotheby’s Paris sold the couple’s work at their home in Kowtou Mountain, Greece. The two-day auction achieved more than 35 million euros (US$40 million), the highest single-person sales in France that year.
Last year, the centenary of the birth of surrealism was celebrated. Major programs have been performed in Paris’s Pompidou and Modern Fort Worth Museum of Art, as well as other museums, while auction prices for surreal artists have soared recently. In 2024, Christie sells Magritte L’Empire des Lumiéres (1954) auctioned the record of painters in New York for $121.2 million.
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