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Saudi Minister of Culture, UNESCO Official Discuss Cooperation in Preserving World Heritage

Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Farhan receives the director general of UNESCO in Riyadh. (SPA)
Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Farhan receives the director general of UNESCO in Riyadh. (SPA)
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Saudi Minister of Culture, UNESCO Official Discuss Cooperation in Preserving World Heritage

Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Farhan receives the director general of UNESCO in Riyadh. (SPA)
Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Farhan receives the director general of UNESCO in Riyadh. (SPA)

Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Farhan met on Sunday with Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), on the sidelines of the 45th extended session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, hosted by Saudi Arabia.

Prince Badr commended the efforts of UNESCO contributing to the preservation of natural and cultural heritage around the world.

He confirmed the Kingdom's keen interest and aspiration to host the forthcoming UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development (MONDIACULT), scheduled for the year 2025.

In addition, the meeting discussed cooperation between Saudi Arabia and UNESCO in preserving and protecting world heritage and the Kingdom’s backing for the organization’s efforts to support small island developing states.

Prince Badr also reviewed the projects funded by the Kingdom at UNESCO in support of the protection and promotion of culture and heritage.

The minister reiterated the Kingdom's unwavering commitment to supporting the projects and programs championed by UNESCO.

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Magritte Painting Nets Auction Record of $121 Million

Rene Magritte's "L'empire des lumières" is on display during a press preview for Christie's Fall 20/21 Marquee Week in New York, November 8, 2024. (AFP)
Rene Magritte's "L'empire des lumières" is on display during a press preview for Christie's Fall 20/21 Marquee Week in New York, November 8, 2024. (AFP)
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Magritte Painting Nets Auction Record of $121 Million

Rene Magritte's "L'empire des lumières" is on display during a press preview for Christie's Fall 20/21 Marquee Week in New York, November 8, 2024. (AFP)
Rene Magritte's "L'empire des lumières" is on display during a press preview for Christie's Fall 20/21 Marquee Week in New York, November 8, 2024. (AFP)

A painting by Rene Magritte shattered an auction record for the surrealist artist on Tuesday, selling for more than $121 million at Christie's in New York.

The seminal 1954 painting had been valued at $95 million, and the previous record for a work by Magritte (1898-1967) was $79 million, set in 2022.

After a nearly 10-minute bidding war on Tuesday, "Empire of Light" ("L'Empire des lumieres") was sold for $121,160,000, "achieving a world-record price for the artist and for a surrealist work of art at auction", according to auction house Christie's.

The painting -- depicting a house at night, illuminated by a lamp post, while under a bright, blue sky -- is one of a series by the Belgian artist showing the interplay of shadow and light.

"Empire of Light" was part of the private collection of Mica Ertegun, an interior designer who fled communist Romania to settle in the United States where she became an influential figure in the arts world.

She died in late 2023 and was married to the late Ahmet Ertegun, the music magnate who founded the Atlantic Records label.

The sale of the Magritte painting was an expected highlight of this week's autumn sales season in New York, at a time when the art market has seen a slowdown since last year.

Christie's -- which is controlled by Artemis, the investment holding company owned by the Pinault family -- said sales totaled $2.1 billion in the first half of this year.

That is down for the second straight year, after a peak of $4.1 billion in 2022 as the world emerged from the coronavirus pandemic.

During the same Christie's auction on Tuesday, a celebrated 1964 painting of a gas station by 86-year-old Ed Ruscha, titled "Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western Being Torn in Half," sold for $68.26 million, setting a new auction record for the American pop artist.