From Mexico City to a family collection
A private collector from Long Beach, California, bought Fil d'Or at Galeria de Arte Mexicano in 1953. Subsequent generations inherited the painting, which is now owned by a family member in Little Rock, Arkansas. Its documented provenance traces more than seven decades of ownership within that family.
The current owner received several private offers over the years but chose not to sell, according to Aviva Lehmann, Heritage's deputy chairman of fine art. The painting is now consigned as Lot 77028 in the auction house's Modern & Contemporary Art Signature Auction. Finestre sull'Arte puts the dollar estimate at roughly €223,000 to €312,000.
An inscription on the back, written by someone other than Carrington, reads "LEONORA CARRINGTON 12/26/53," Collectibles News reports. The date links the canvas to its year of creation.
Heritage reports that the canvas has not been lined and shows scratches across parts of its surface, small areas of pigment loss and some craquelure. An ultraviolet examination revealed no apparent inpainting, according to the auction house's condition report.
A small canvas made with grattage
Measuring 13 by 8.5 inches, Fil d'Or dates from Carrington's years in Mexico. She had sought refuge there after World War II began in Europe, according to Artnet News.
The Museum of Modern Art identifies the technique Carrington used as grattage: an artist builds up paint layers, then scrapes them back to expose patterns and textures below. Few Carrington works made with this technique have reached auction, The Times of India reports.
Grattage grew out of the graphite-rubbing method known as frottage. The German Surrealist Max Ernst, Carrington's former partner, pioneered grattage around 1926 and later employed it in paintings including Leonora in the Morning Light (1940), according to Artnet News. It became associated with Surrealist automatism.
Fil d'Or means "gold thread" in French, referring literally to the fine gold wire used in embroidery and decorative textiles. The phrase also has a figurative meaning, a "common thread." The auction catalog interprets Carrington's title as an exploration of words with multiple meanings and the different readings they invite.
Frank Hettig, Heritage's vice president of contemporary art, emphasized the imaginative world contained within the small canvas. "Discoveries like this allow us to encounter a familiar artist from a new perspective," he said.
Surrealist demand and Carrington's market
The offering comes amid heightened interest in Surrealist art, Artnet News reports. Recent sales include Frida Kahlo's El Sueño (1940), which brought $54.7 million at Sotheby's New York in 2025. Carrington set her own auction record in 2024, when Les Distractions de Dagobert (1945) fetched $28.5 million at Sotheby's.
Carrington's market has eased from that 2024 peak, although sales remain well above historical levels. The Artnet Price Database records $8.1 million in public auction sales for her work in 2025 and more than $6 million so far in 2026.
Lehmann expects bidders from multiple countries to compete for Fil d'Or, including established Carrington collectors and buyers hoping to acquire their first work by the artist.
