In Paris on Friday, during the extended bidding on Salvador Dalí’s Rose méditative at Sotheby’s new headquarters, I started counting potential buyers for the work. Early offers had whisked the small painting of a rose hovering in a blue sky under a wispy cloud, estimated at €700,000, into higher price ranges. It would eventually hammer at €3.9 million after 10 bidders, both in the room and on the phones, took their best shot at landing the prize. But the tone of the sale was set when a Kay Sage painting, Other Answers, estimated at €300,000, sold for €1 million. A small Miró painting—Femmes, from 1932, estimated at €700,000—made €1.9 million. 

For Sotheby’s, the surrealism sale was a smart way to begin the day of auctions, timed to take advantage of Art Basel Paris. Surrealism continues to be a bright spot in the market, especially works by female surrealist painters. Meanwhile, the Centre Pompidou was also mounting a large-scale survey of the century-old art movement that began in Paris.