In excellent condition, this is one of only five gouache designs by Hergé for Tintin book covers and it sold at Euro650,000 (£508,000).
Sale expert Eric Leroy praised the work's modernity and hypnotic appeal, while self-styled 'Tintinologist' Pierre Sterckx told Le Figaro that it was "as inventive as Miró, the red scarf sounds a clarion-call amidst the colour harmony... You can tell Hergé was one of the leading artists of his era, a unique link between comic strips and contemporary art."
Tintin cover makes £500,000
A world record price for a comic-strip illustration was paid at a specalist sale at Artcurial in Paris on March 29: Georges Remi Hergé’s 1932 ink-and-gouache design for the cover of Tintin en Amérique.