Why Leonora Carrington’s record is so important?

This month all of us heard about the sale of Leonora Carrington’s painting Les Distractions de Dagobert and its outstanding record at Sotheby’s. As well as about Carrington’s new record at the auction house. The painting was sold for $28.5 million (including fees) following a 10-minute bidding battle that surpassed (and a lot!) the painter previous auction record, set at Sotheby’s in 2022 ($3.3 million).

The painting was the star of Sotheby’s modern art evening sale, and it was estimated at $12 million to $18 million. The new owner is the founder of Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, Eduardo F. Costantini. According to him, this “depiction of King Dagobert I is one of the most admired works in the history of surrealism”. Costantini told that he was the underbidder in the auction of 1995, but that he did not want to miss this time again.

Les Distractions de Dagobert by Leonora Carrington – Photograph Courtesy of Sotheby’s, Inc. ©2024

It is a scene inspired by The Garden of Earthly Delights by Bosch, illustrating the decadent life of Dagobert I, the Frankish king of the Merovingian dynasty. The imaginary is wild with hybrids creatures: part-human, part-animal, part-plant… who carry out mysterious rituals. To create this iconography the artist surely drew on scientific literature, medieval history of Europe, and European (Celtic) and Mexican mythology.

The king is at the centre of the composition wearing a red robe, and surrounded by what we can consider as visions or hallucinations, such as a flying woman with a stag head, or a man consumed by flames, and another woman stretched out on a boat with a baby’s face painted on her head.

But why this sale and record is so important?

The obvious reason is that women artists are (finally) finding and managing to secure their places in the auction houses. In the last years we could observe how the prices for female artists have been steadily rising, especially in the case of the surrealists, two good examples of this tendency are the new records for Frida Kahlo ($34.9 million) and Leonor Fini ($2.3 million).

Another important reason is that the work of women artists is finally receiving, what I consider, a financial recognition. The art market never was “generous” with the work of women artists. And even if we compare with what people pay normally for men’s artworks, $28.5 million does not seem like a large amount.

But, in my opinion, the significant point about this sale is perhaps just a little detail, that not many people give attention; but this very painting by Carrington was sold at the same auction house in 1995 for only $475,500. What I mean is that almost 30 years later, the same painting was revalued, its price has grown spectacularly. I know that something like this can happen in the art market, but I don’t remember a case like this with a woman artist.

Curiosities:

The artist was pregnant with her first child when she made this painting, and she was 28 years old.
Les Distractions de Dagobert has been requested for two upcoming exhibitions for 2025. “Leonora Carring: Dream Weaver” at the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University, and “Surrealism” at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.