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Saudi Minister of Culture Visits Kingdom’s Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka

Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan visits the Kingdom's pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka on Monday. (SPA)
Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan visits the Kingdom's pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka on Monday. (SPA)
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Saudi Minister of Culture Visits Kingdom’s Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka

Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan visits the Kingdom's pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka on Monday. (SPA)
Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan visits the Kingdom's pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka on Monday. (SPA)

Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan, chairman of the steering committee for the Kingdom's participation in international expos, visited the Kingdom's pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka on Monday as part of his official visit to Japan.

Upon his arrival, the minister of culture was received by Deputy Minister of Culture and chairman of the executive committee for the Kingdom's participation in international expos Hamed bin Mohammed Fayez, Assistant Minister of Culture Rakan bin Ibrahim Al-Touq, Saudi Ambassador to Japan Dr. Ghazi Faisal Binzagr, and several senior officials.

Prince Badr toured the sections of the national pavilion, reviewing its design and the progress of ongoing construction at the exhibition site, which is set to open in April 2025. He was briefed on the pavilion's visitor experience, which showcases the Kingdom’s rich cultural heritage and identity.

The pavilion presents Saudi Arabia's history in the form of a narrative, inviting visitors on a journey to explore its cultures, traditions, and values, which form the foundation of the nation’s identity. It also highlights the transformative developments currently underway in the Kingdom and its contributions to building a better future for the world.

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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.