The painting by Toyen was sold at auction for 13.6 million CZK, making it the second most expensive

Prague - The painting titled Dream by the artist Toyen from 1937 was sold at today's auction for 13.6 million crowns, making it the second most expensive work by this author sold at a domestic auction. Its starting price was 12 million crowns, and the final price, including the auction premium, climbed to 17 million. Martin Kodl from Galerie Kodl, which is organizing today's auction in cooperation with the Vltavín Auction House, informed ČTK about this.
The auction also featured a large hyperrealistic painting by Theodor Pištěk named Seagull Flying into a Dream, in which the author depicted a Porsche almost life-sized, above which a white outline of a seagull flies. The work sold for 2.9 million crowns and became the most expensive painting auctioned by a living Czech author. Previously, the most expensive was another piece by Pištěk, On a Visit to the Harrachs, which was auctioned last year for 2.7 million crowns.
The painting sold today by the artist Toyen is considered by experts to be one of her key works. Toyen ranks among the most expensive-selling authors at domestic auctions; besides the mentioned paintings, another five works by this representative of Czech surrealism have been auctioned for prices of ten million crowns and more.

Toyen is regarded as the first lady of Czech interwar avant-garde

• Toyen (born Marie Čermínová, 1902-1980) is regarded as the first lady of Czech interwar avant-garde. Her work includes "naïve" paintings connected to Czech reality, gloomy scenes inspired by war, and, characteristic of her, surrealistic compositions. Her work often features an erotic accent; for example, the Pillow with a Scene from a Brothel and the famous Paradise of Black People caused a stir.
• In addition to her art, Toyen was also known for her nonconformist views. She rejected her civil name, severed her family ties, and denied traditional female roles. She dressed in men's clothing and also sympathized with the anarchist movement. She was born on September 21, 1902, left her family at sixteen, and studied at UMPRUM. She began painting around 1922. That same year, she met the surrealist Jindřich Štyrský on the Croatian island of Korčula, and a year later, she became Toyen.
• She remained with Štyrský until his death in 1942. During the war, she hid poet Jindřich Heisler in her studio apartment on Krásova Street, who was threatened with deportation to a concentration camp. In 1947, she left for Paris with him and joined the surrealist group of André Breton. Between 1947 and 1962, she held six solo exhibitions there. However, she gradually became more closed off from the world. She died on November 9, 1980, at the age of 78. She is buried in the Batignolles cemetery in Paris.
• Toyen's surrealistic paintings still have a captivating effect and are in high demand. The previously most expensive was The Sleeping Woman, auctioned in 2009 for 20 million crowns (without auction premium), which remains the fifth most expensive painting sold in the Czech Republic; only four works by František Kupka have sold for more. Other paintings by the artist have also exceeded ten million crowns at Czech auctions - The Remainder of the Night (2010 auction), The Diver (2012), The Sad Day (2009), Geometric Composition (2011), Shipwreck in a Dream (2013), and today Dream.

Overview of the most expensive paintings by Toyen sold at auctions:

Work	Year	Place	Price in millions CZK (without auction premium)
The Sleeping Woman	2009	Prague	20
Dream	2014	Prague	13.6
The Remainder of the Night	2010	Prague	13.2
The Diver	2012	Prague	13*
The Sad Day	2009	Prague	12
Geometric Composition	2011	Prague	11.5
Shipwreck in a Dream	2013	Prague	10

* in 2010, it was auctioned at Sotheby's in Paris for 600,750 euros (then approximately 15
million crowns) including auction premium