The prestigious Sotheby's auction house in Paris registered a spectacular triumph for the modernist movement in October 2025, setting a significant new financial benchmark for the French art market. The undisputed focal point of the highly anticipated sale was Amedeo Modigliani’s celebrated oil painting, "Buste d'Elvira" (Bust of Elvira), a compelling portrait executed between 1918 and 1919. This exceptional piece of art commanded a final price of 27 million euros, establishing an absolute record for any work by the renowned Italian master sold at auction within France. Moreover, the sale cemented the painting’s place in history as the single most valuable lot ever transacted by the Sotheby's Paris division, underscoring the enduring global appeal of Modigliani's distinctive aesthetic.
The auctions, strategically combined into the series "Modernités" and "Surrealism and Its Legacy," collectively demonstrated an extraordinary resilience and vigor within the high-end art sector. The sales generated a remarkable aggregate revenue that comfortably exceeded 89.7 million euros. This impressive financial outcome represented a surge of more than 50 percent compared to the figures achieved during analogous sales held in October of the previous year, consequently setting a new high-water mark for a multi-owner auction series hosted at Sotheby's Parisian headquarters. A key factor contributing to this success was the freshness of the inventory: a substantial 61 percent of the total artworks offered were making their inaugural appearance on the open market, driving intense competition among bidders.
Modigliani’s record-breaking achievement was closely paralleled by the success of another monumental work: an unpublished portrait of Dora Maar by Pablo Picasso. This significant canvas, which had been carefully preserved within the confines of a single family collection for an astonishing eighty years, also achieved the identical impressive price of 27 million euros. The scarcity of "Buste d'Elvira," which had remained off the public radar since it entered a private collection in 1974, significantly heightened its desirability and valuation upon its reintroduction to the auction circuit, mirroring the premium placed on the long-hidden Picasso portrait. Further reinforcing the strength of the Italian artist’s market was the sale of a rare 1915 portrait of the writer Raymond Radiguet, also painted by Modigliani, which secured a robust 10.6 million euros.
The strong performance extended beyond the dominant figures of Modernism. René Magritte’s iconic surrealist work, "La Magie Noire" (1934), notably surpassed pre-sale estimates, ultimately selling for 10.7 million euros. The comprehensive results of the sales series illustrated a clear dominance in pricing across several categories. In addition to Modigliani, several other notable artists—specifically Paul Delvaux, Oscar Dominguez, Conrad Klappek, and Wols—also successfully established new price ceilings for their work in the French market. These high-profile auction events serve as a powerful affirmation that an object’s authentic market value is derived not only from the technical mastery demonstrated by the creator, but equally from the unique and compelling journey, or provenance, that the artwork navigates across the span of history.