The image of the 12th-century mosque in Marrakech at sunset, with the Atlas Mountains in the background, is the only painting that Britain\u2019s World War II leader completed during the 1939-45 conflict.<\/p>\n
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He painted it after the January 1943 Casablanca Conference, where Churchill and Roosevelt planned the defeat of Nazi Germany. The two leaders visited Marrakech after the conference so that Churchill could show Roosevelt the city\u2019s beauty.<\/p>\n
\u201cRoosevelt was blown away by it and thought it was incredible,\u201d said Nick Orchard, head of Christie\u2019s modern British art department. He said Churchill captured the view in the \u201cwonderful, evocative painting\u201d and gave it to Roosevelt as a memento of the trip.<\/p>\n
Churchill was a keen amateur artist who completed some 500 paintings after taking up painting in his 40s. Orchard said that \u201cthe light in Morocco and over Marrakech was something that Churchill was passionate about\u201d and painted again and again.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe loved the dry air, the light, the sun and the way it played on the landscapes,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s absolutely visible here in this painting. You can see the long shadows and the turning purple of the mountains and the deepening of the sky \u2014 classic sunset time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The painting was sold by Roosevelt\u2019s son after the president\u2019s death in 1945, and had several owners before Jolie and partner Brad Pitt bought it in 2011.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0couple separated in 2016\u00a0and have spent years enmeshed in divorce proceedings, amid speculation about the division of their extensive art collection. They were declared divorced in 2019 after their lawyers asked for a bifurcated judgment, meaning that two married people can be declared single while other issues, including finances and child custody, remain.<\/p>\n
The painting is being sold by the Jolie Family Collection as part of Christie\u2019s March 1 modern British art auction in London.<\/p>\n
Orchard said the auction house was hopeful it could set a new record for a Churchill work.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe record price at auction for Churchill is about 1.8 million (pounds) for a painting that, in my view, is not as important as this,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I think this is probably his most important work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A painting by Winston Churchill that is a piece of both political and Hollywood history<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"\n