RENÉ MAGRITTE Les grâces naturelles, circa 1961. Estimate: £6,500,000-9,500,000.
Credit Christie’s Images Limited 2026
Christies is a place where art and history coexist, making it one of the most treasured venues of art and design.
In the vibrant world of art and history, Christie’s invites you to explore an exciting series of live and online sales of 20th and 21st-century art, happening from February 25 to March 12, 2026. You’ll discover a remarkable collection of works by renowned artists such as Henry Moore, Wassily Kandinsky, Gerhard Richter, Bridget Riley, Cecily Brown, René Magritte, Dorothea Tanning, Cy Twombly, Claude Monet, Toyen, Emil Nolde, Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst, and Yayoi Kusama, among others. These sales will feature over 800 lots spanning Impressionist, Modern, Dada, Surrealist, and Post-War art, offering something special for every art enthusiast.
RENÉ MAGRITTE Le choeur des sphinges, 1964. Estimate: £5,000,000-8,000,000..
Credit Christie’s Images Limited 2026
Christie’s proudly presents the 25th edition of The Art of the Surreal Evening Sale, a major highlight during London Marquee Week for 20th/21st Century Art on March 5, 2026. This auction is the only global sale dedicated exclusively to Dada, Surrealism, and their enduring influence. Since 1989, Christie’s has hosted this event, making it the longest-running and most consistent in its category.
RENE-MAGRITTE-La-jeunesse-illustree-1937.
Credit Christie’s Images Limited 2026
Leading the sale is Magritte’s Les grâces naturelles (circa 1961; estimate: £6,500,000–9,500,000). Painted in vivid, luminous colour and exhibited at the Magritte Museum in Brussels since its opening in 2009, the work exemplifies the artist’s fascination with transformation and visual paradoxes. It features one of his most celebrated motifs: the “leaf-bird,” a hybrid form captured at the moment it shifts between states of being.
Five more works by Magritte will be offered in the sale, including Le choix des sphinges (1964; estimate: £5,000,000-8,000,000), a playful landscape showcasing Magritte’s signature transformations, with five floating forms – including a pipe – hovering above a forest, each rendered with the same woodland texture as the trees below. Executed during the 1960s, the work reflects Magritte’s return to earlier themes, reimagined with wit and simplicity, and subtly echoes the collage techniques from the late 1920s. Completing this grouping is La jeunesse illustrée (1937; estimate: £1,800,000–2,500,000), a tranquil countryside scene with a dreamlike procession of figures and objects whose relationships invite interpretation.
DOROTHEA TANNING Children’s Games, 1942. Estimate: £1,000,000-2,000,000.
Credit Christie’s Images Limited 2026
Dorothea Tanning’s Children’s Games (1942; estimate: £1,000,000–2,000,000) is a striking example of the artist’s early Surrealist work, filled with intense psychological energy. Painted in 1942, the composition shows two young girls tearing at the wallpaper of a narrow corridor to reveal a hidden world of exposed flesh beneath, turning a familiar domestic scene into something unsettling. Created during a time when Tanning was increasingly exploring female sexuality, autonomy, and the transition from childhood to adolescence, the work challenges the usual Surrealist idea of the femme-enfant, portraying its characters not as passive but as agents of disruption. Children’s Games was featured in the important ‘Exhibition by 31 Women’ at Peggy Guggenheim’s Art of This Century gallery in New York in 1943, a groundbreaking show that showcased leading women artists of the era, including Frida Kahlo, Leonora Carrington, Meret Oppenheim, Kay Sage, and Leonor Fini. It was acquired directly from Tanning and Ernst (who had by then married) in January 1948 by the legendary performer and queen of burlesque, Gypsy Rose Lee, an avid collector of Surrealism and close friend of the artist.
TOYEN-Le-devenir-de-la-liberte-1946
Credit Christie’s Images Limited 2026
Another notable piece in the sale is by a pioneering female artist, Toyen. Her work, Le devenir de la liberté (1946; estimate: £1,200,000–2,200,000), is a compelling and mysterious piece by the Czech Surrealist. Created shortly after Toyen emerged from six years of hiding during World War II, the painting combines dream-like imagery with intricate detail, showing a scene where lush plant life seems to take over the domestic space. At the center, a dense cluster of peas forms a suggestive, partly hidden humanoid figure, reminiscent of Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s fantastical, hybrid compositions, yet remains enigmatically ambiguous. Above, a flock of swallows arcs across a trompe l’oeil sky, symbolizing spring and renewal. Having discovered Surrealism in the early 1930s, Toyen quickly gained a reputation for imaginative, erotically tinged works that challenged social norms. Le devenir de la liberté is one of her first new works after the war, reflecting her return to avant-garde circles and the ongoing dialogue between Czech and Parisian Surrealists.
CECILY BROWN BRIDGET RILEY CY TWOMBLY Shadow Burn, 2005-2006 Arrest 4, 1965 Untitled (Rome), 1961. Estimate: £3,000,000–5,000,000.
Credit Christie’s Images Limited 2026
20th/21st Century Art sale London
CLAUDE MONET Le Parc Monceau, 1878. Estimate: £5,500,000–8,500,000.
Credit Christie’s Images Limited 2026
GERHARD RICHTER Abstraktes Bild, 1991. Estimate: £4,500,000-6,500,000.
Credit Christie’s Images Limited 2026
FRANCESCA MOLLETT Satellite, 2022. Estimate: £6,000-8,000.
Credit Christie’s Images Limited 2026
Post War and Contemporary Art
During its 20/21 Marquee Week, Christie’s London will organize three major single-owner auctions under the theme Modern Visionaries: The Roger and Josette Vanthournout Collection. These will include live sales on March 5 and 6, with an online auction open for bidding until March 12. Additionally, Spellbound: The Hegweisch Collection Part II is scheduled for March 7.
CECILY BROWN Mean Eyed Cat, 2012. Estimate: £600,000-800,000.
Credit Christie’s Images Limited 2026
YAYOI KUSAMA Hitomi (Eye), 1989. Estimate: £300,000-500,000.
Credit Christie’s Images Limited 2026
PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOIR La promenade à Montmartre, circa 1890. Estimate: £700,000-1,000,000.
Credit Christie’s Images Limited 2026
Impressionist and Modern Art Day and Works
Christie’s extensive collections of beautiful artworks continue to inspire. The 20/21 auctions will be held in London, featuring the Modern British and Irish Art Evening and Day sales on March 18 and 19, 2026. Afterwards, the excitement shifts to Paris for its Marquee Week 20/21, running from April 14 to 17, 2026. This event will include six sales—one online—five remarkable collections, and over 400 stunning works.
