INSTEAD of getting through a list of long-deferred tasks, such as a trip to the local tip, I spent much of the recent Bank Holiday Monday online, staring at and trying to decipher the extraordinary Surrealist painting by Leonora Carrington that is currently the highest-priced work by a British-born female artist sold at auction. Last month, at Sotheby’s New York, the 29¾in by 34¼in Les Distractions de Dagobert () went for $28.5 million (£22.4m). Painted in tempera on a masonite hardboard panel, it had previously reached a mere $475,000 at the same saleroom in 1995 (equivalent to about $973,000 or £760,000 now).
Follow your art
Jun 12, 2024
4 minutes
You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.
Start your free 30 days