Angelina Jolie auctioned off Sir Winston Churchill’s sun-drenched view of Marrakesh for $11.6 million on Monday, nearly quadrupling its estimate and setting a record for art created by the World War II leader.
At least 10 bidders chased after Churchill’s 1943 “Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque” in a contest that stretched for nine minutes before selling to an anonymous telephone bidder during Christie’s live-streamed sale of modern British art in London.
The painting focuses on the Moroccan city’s 12th century mosque, whose tower rises up against the snow-capped Atlas Mountains. It was only expected by the auction house to sell for up to $3.4 million.
Ms. Jolie had owned the work since 2011 with her then-husband Brad Pitt; the couple divorced in 2019. Christie’s listed the Jolie Family Collection as its seller.
Churchill was best known for his role as a cigar-chomping prime minister, but he picked up painting in 1915 and created several hundred works over the next 40 years of his life. His works have previously sold for as much as $2.5 million at auction, but “Tower” stood out in part because it was the only work he completed during the war.
