Rene Magritte (1898-1967)

The subject of the "masked apples" first appeared in an oil painting of 1950 titled La Valse hésitation (Sylvester, no. 726) and Magritte returned to this theme a number of times, including it in his mural for the Knokke-le-Zoute Casino Communal, La Domaine enchantée in 1953 (Sylvester, no. 792). Magritte probably took the title from Barbey d'Aureville's book Le Prêtre Marié ("The Married Priest"), to which the artist referred in a letter of 1944. In addition to the contradiction expressed in the title itself, Magritte plays visually upon the erotic associations of the apple as a symbol of carnal knowledge, and the tantalizing appeal of a disguised object of desire, giving the apples a curiously human aspect.

This idea of a strange romantic affinity is further enhanced by the moonlit setting. Magritte also painted a parallel series of works in which the masked apples occupy a sunlit landscape; he titled these La Valse hésitation ("The Hesitation Waltz"), which again evokes and unites two contradictory activities.

Provenance

Alexander Iolas Gallery, New York (acquired from the artist, 1958; acquired by the present owner, 1960)

Pre-Lot Text

Property of a
NEW YORK PRIVATE COLLECTOR

Literature

ed. D. Sylvester, René Magrite, Catalogue Raisonné, London, 1993, vol. III (Oil Paintings, Objects and Bronzes, 1949-1967), no. 889 (illustrated, p. 300)

Exhibited

New York, Alexander Iolas Gallery, 1959