Auction introduction: The 23rd edition of The Art of the Surreal presented by Christie’s will immediately follow the 20th/21st Century: Evening Sale on 7 March 2024. Celebrating the 100th anniversary of André Breton’s ‘Surrealist Manifesto,’ and the official birth of the movement, The Art of the Surreal Sale features works by many of the most innovative and leading figures of Surrealism, from René Magritte to Francis Picabia, Max Ernst to Salvador Dalí, Yves Tanguy to Joan Miró. Tracing the evolution of the movement – from its roots in Symbolism and DADA, through to its heyday in Paris and Brussels during the 1920s and 1930s, and onto its later iterations in Post-War Europe and North America – the eclectic group of artworks in the Sale tells the unique story of Surrealism across the 20th century. The Sale will be led by René Magritte’s L’ami intime (The Intimate Friend), one of the finest of the artist’s iconic and mysterious paintings of the man in the bowler hat. Created during the first months of 1958, it depicts this familiar, anonymous figure seen from behind and staring out over a sunlit, green landscape. Behind him, the magical appearance of a baguette and a glass of water, apparently levitating at the centre of the canvas and against his back, transforms this simple image into something wholly unexpected, mysterious and completely out of the ordinary. The work will be on view at our galleries in New York from 9–14 February and Hong Kong from 21–23 February.