As a youth Magritte often went to the old cemetery in Soignies and the granite monuments and the wooden caskets in its crypt played a recurrent role in his surrealist iconography. His mother's suicide when he was very young may also have had a part to play in his mordant imagery.

Perspective: Madame Récamier de David is linked to a number of pieces Magritte painted from 1949 onwards which were based on celebrated works of art. Each is entitled a Perspective of the given masterpiece. In this instance Magritte toys with Jacques Louis David's iconic neoclassical portrait of Madame Récamier.

Dated 1950, the first version of the painting was in progress in late October, when Magritte wrote to Iolas: "J'ai commencé quelques beaux tableaux, entre autres, je crois que ma transformation en Perspective de Madame Récamier de David est sensationelle." (ibid., p. 168). All the details from the original are preserved, and the draped cloth over the chaise-longue mimics the folds of Madame Récamier's dress. However, a solitary bent coffin replaces the elegant figure of the lady. A squared up postcard of David's portrait of Madame Récamier was found among Magritte's personal effects (fig. 1). This shows Magritte took considerable pains to reproduce the image succinctly, noting every detail. This same precision is apparent when much later the theme became the subject of a bronze. The coffin was cast from a specially constructed wooden model Magritte ordered from a carpenter, with its ornamental details made from Magritte's own designs.

Another version of the present painting is housed in the Saatchi Collection, London.