Magritte's 'Empire of Light' was auctioned for 160 billion won... joining the '$100 million club'

The Empire of Light, one of the representative works of Belgian surrealist painter René Magritte, has been auctioned off for the highest price of any surrealist work of all time.

The New York Times reported that Magritte's "Empire of Light" was sold at Christie's auction in Manhattan, New York, on the 19th local time for $121.2 million and KRW 168.6 billion.

It's the highest ever Magritte work and the highest winning bid for any surrealist work.

The auction made Magritte the 16th artist in history to sell more than $100 million.

According to Art Price, a French art market analyst, Leonardo da Vinci, Gustav Klimt, Amedeo Modigliani, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Pablo Picasso are among the artists who broke the record prior to Magritte.

The recently won "Empire of Light" is one of Magritte's 17 oil paintings of the same name from 1947 to 1965.

This painting, which contrasts the dark, desolate nightlife with the bright, clear day sky, is considered one of Magritte's most famous works.

The version at the auction was owned by Romanian designer and philanthropist Michael Ertegun, the first version of the "Empire of Light" series to feature water in the foreground.

The work was initially expected to sell for $95 million, or about 132 billion won, slightly less than $100 million, but after 10 minutes of fierce telephone bidding competition on the day of the auction, it exceeded the expected price, the New York Times said.

Paolo Bedovi, the director of a gallery in Belgium that specializes in Magritte's works, told the NYT that "all large collectors now seem to want Magritte" and analyzed the "Magrit fever."