Untitled

Details

René Magritte (1898-1967)
Untitled
signed 'Magritte' (lower right)
watercolour, black chalk, pencil and collage on paper
23 5/8 x 17½in. (60 x 44.5cm.)
Executed in 1926

Provenance

Jean Van Parys, Brussels, by whom acquired directly from the Artist.
Jeanne Van Parys-Maryssael, Brussels, by 1974.
Galerie Brusberg, Berlin, by whom acquired from the above in 1987.
Acquired from the above in September 1987 and thence by descent to the present owners.

Literature

A.M. Hammacher, Magritte, London, 1974 (illustrated pl. 5, p. 74) D. Sylvester (ed.), René Magritte, Catalogue Raisonné, Vol. IV, Gouaches, Temperas, Watercolours and Papiers Collés 1918-1967, Antwerp, 1994, no. 1611 (illustrated p. 298).

Exhibited

Brussels, Galerie Le Centaure, Exposition Magritte, April - May 1927.
Brussels, Musée d' Ixelles, Magritte, April - May 1959, no. 7, 8, 9, or 10.
Rotterdam, Museum Boymans-Van Beuningen, René Magritte: het mysterie van de werkelijkheid/le mystère de la réalité, August - September 1967, no. 91 (illustrated p. 217).
Tokyo, National Museum of Modern Art, Rétrospective René Magritte, May - July 1971, no. 68; this exhibition later travelled to Kyoto, National Museum of Modern Art.
Munich, Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, René Magritte, November 1987 - February 1988, no. 3 (illustrated).

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

Like the previous lot, the present collage features elements that can be found in several oils painted by Magritte in the same year. the block with eyes and other elements also appear in Le groupe silencieux (fig. 1) and Le gouffre argenté. It is possible that this intriguing visual symbol was conceived in this watercolour.

The configuration of the cut music paper (see the note on the previous lot regarding the music composition) which appears in many collages from this early series, is related to the scrolled head of a violin, with elements possibly derived from the f-holes cut into the body of the instrument or the treble clef sign in a musical notation. This shape which casts a shadow and seems capable of self-perambulation, appears to wear a scarf and to be engaged in a surreal conversation with the block of eyes on a terrace towering over an empty landscape.

More from IMPRESSIONIST AND MODERN ART (EVENING SALE)

View All