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Lot Essay
Le Sens propre was painted at Harry Torcyzner's request during Magritte's holiday in Nice in June 1963. On 18 June he wrote to Torczyner, "My holiday is already drawing to a close. To round it off in style, I am about to paint the gouache with the writing" (quoted in D. Sylvester et al., op. cit., p. 255).
The use of language was among the most philosophically significant of Magritte's themes, and one which he had begun exploring by 1928. As Suzi Gablik notes, he sought "to illuminate the confusion and oversimplification which are so deeply rooted in our habit of language that they are not even noticed" (S. Gablik, Magritte, New York, 1985, p. 124). Magritte desired to show that neither words nor pictures actually are what they denote, and that signification thus depends on arbitrary conventions. For instance (to cite one of Magritte's most celebrated paintings), an image of a pipe must not be confused with the actual object. Thus, were it not for convention, the words 'dog' or 'curtain' could be equally appropriate. In philosophical terms, Magritte was a strict nominalist.
In the present gouache, Magritte paints a landscape but substitutes the words 'rideau' and 'cheval' for images of a curtain and horse, thereby jarring the viewer and eliminating any misperception between the signs for these objects and their actual existence in reality.
The use of language was among the most philosophically significant of Magritte's themes, and one which he had begun exploring by 1928. As Suzi Gablik notes, he sought "to illuminate the confusion and oversimplification which are so deeply rooted in our habit of language that they are not even noticed" (S. Gablik, Magritte, New York, 1985, p. 124). Magritte desired to show that neither words nor pictures actually are what they denote, and that signification thus depends on arbitrary conventions. For instance (to cite one of Magritte's most celebrated paintings), an image of a pipe must not be confused with the actual object. Thus, were it not for convention, the words 'dog' or 'curtain' could be equally appropriate. In philosophical terms, Magritte was a strict nominalist.
In the present gouache, Magritte paints a landscape but substitutes the words 'rideau' and 'cheval' for images of a curtain and horse, thereby jarring the viewer and eliminating any misperception between the signs for these objects and their actual existence in reality.