Gil Kaplan’s Magritte goes under the hammer

Gil Kaplan’s Magritte goes under the hammer

News

norman lebrecht

February 06, 2024

The star attraction in Christie’s upcoming surrealist auction is René Magritte’s L’ami intime, a landmark in surreal art.

The work was bought 40 years ago by the magazine publisher and conductor Gilbert Kaplan who, aside from his public activities, wrote a monograph on Magritte and immersed himself in the artist’s meanderings.

L’ami intime, from the Gil and Lena Kaplan collection, is expected to fetch £30-50 million at auction.

Gil, who conducted Mahler’s second symphony all over the world, died in January 2016, aged 74.

Comments

  • Tom M. says:

    I suddenly want a baguette and a glass of wine.

  • Gianni Roccanova says:

    A wonderful, very inspiring, very Belgian painting!

    • John Borstlap says:

      It’s a very wrong painting, baguettes and wine glasses never float like that in the air behind one’s back. At least, I have never seen it, not even in Paris.

      Sally

  • John Kelly says:

    Interesting, though calling Mr Kaplan a “conductor” is perhaps pushing it a bit. He did conduct Mahler 2 a lot but his repertoire was even smaller than Carlos Kleiber’s…………..

  • Sherry says:

    Inspirational!

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