Churchill’s Iconic Marrakech Painting Heads to Auction, Could Fetch Millions

Art collectors could fight over this canvas that fuels speculation, with estimates ranging from 1.7 to 2.8 million euros, according to Christie’s. This painting, sold by American actress Angelina Jolie, is considered "the most important painting by Winston Churchill due to its intertwining with 20th century history," writes British art historian Barry Phipps in the catalog.

The former British Prime Minister began painting at the age of 40, and became enamored with the beauty of the city of Marrakech in the 1930s. "Here, in these vast palm groves emerging from the desert, the traveler can be sure of eternal sunshine and contemplate with unceasing satisfaction the majestic and snow-capped panorama of the Atlas Mountains," he wrote in 1936 in the British newspaper Daily Mail.

In total, he will make six trips to, as he confided, "get lost in the maze of the old city streets, go on picnics in the Ourika valley, on the heights of Marrakech, and set up his easel on the balconies of the grand hotel La Mamounia or the Villa Taylor." It is from this villa that he painted the canvas that arouses the covetousness of contemporary art specialists.

Today owned by the Moroccan royal family, the Villa Taylor is no longer open to visitors. In a press photo from the time, we can see Roosevelt and Churchill admiring the sunset on the panorama that inspired the painter. The painting was sold by one of Roosevelt’s sons in the 1950s. It has traveled a lot before landing in 2011 in the collection of the couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.

This is not the only painting that Winston Churchill has painted during these trips to Morocco. There is also another canvas, "Scene in Marrakech", which will also be auctioned at Christie’s in early March. Estimated between 340,000 and 578,000 euros, the painting depicts a detail of the palm grove at the foot of the Atlas.