This is Not a Pipe Auction History

1929–1932: The artist (Paris and Brussels) [1].

By 1932: Galerie Le Centaure, Brussels [1].

1932: Sold to E. L. T. Mesens (London) [1].

1957: Sold by Mesens to William and Noma Copley [1].

May 17, 1978: Sotheby’s Parke‑Bernet, New York (Sale 4124, Lot 70); purchased by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Reported price $115,000 [1][2].

1978–present: Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles [1].

LACMA’s acquisition of Magritte’s The Treachery of Images (This is Not a Pipe) at Sotheby’s Parke‑Bernet on May 17, 1978, anchors the painting’s auction history: it was publicly sold and purchased by the museum, with a reported price of $115,000 [1][2]. As a canonical Surrealist image and a touchstone of 20th‑century conceptual thinking, the work’s transfer into an institutional collection in the late 1970s effectively removed one of the artist’s most recognizable paintings from the art market for nearly half a century. The sale predates the dramatic revaluation of Magritte’s oils that accelerated from the 1990s onward, leaving this museum purchase as a comparatively modest historical benchmark rather than a current price signal.

Magritte’s top auction prices now cluster around his L’empire des lumières series. On November 19, 2024, a 1954 version sold for $121,160,000 at Christie’s New York, setting records for both Magritte and a Surrealist work at auction [3][4]. Earlier, a 1961 version realized £59.4 million (about $79.7–$79.8 million) at Sotheby’s London in March 2022, then the artist’s auction record [5]. Another 1951 version achieved $42.3 million with fees at Sotheby’s New York in May 2023 [6]. Against these nine‑ and high eight‑figure results, the 1978 price for The Treachery of Images underscores how early LACMA secured this masterpiece, before Surrealism’s sustained market climb.

For collectors and scholars, the key takeaway is twofold: first, this specific painting has been institutionally held since 1978 and is unlikely to reappear at auction; second, Magritte’s market leadership today is anchored by a handful of blue‑chip motifs with strong provenance. While The Treachery of Images is arguably the artist’s most conceptually consequential motif, its absence from recent trade means valuations for the theme must look to related works and broader Magritte comparables rather than a direct, modern sale comp. The painting’s secure museum status at LACMA, along with its well‑documented provenance, reinforces both its cultural stature and its market scarcity [1][2].