Magritte painted the work for Anne-Marie Crowet Gillion, the daughter of one of the artist’s most important patrons, and she has kept it ever since.
The work is poised to recalibrate the market for the artist if it meets expectations.
The work is part of a series of 17 paintings, also known as “L’empire des lumières,” which was born out of high demand for the composition, according to Sotheby’s.
The second-highest auction price, $24.6 million for A la rencontre du plaisir , a classic Magritte showing a man in a bowler hat, sold for $25.5 million at Christie’s London in February 2019.
The work has been loaned for inclusion in major Magritte shows around the world over the past several decades and has been exhibited in the Magritte Museum in Brussels for the past 10 years.
In “a fun nod to the cinematic qualities of the almost-immersive painting,” the auction house notes that a work from the same series inspired a scene in the horror movie The Exorcist.