Lot Essay
In a letter to Volker Kahman dated 25 November 1964, Magritte wrote "...For me, painting is a means of describing a thought that consists uniquely of the visible the world offers. This thought is specialized, it aspires only to see, or, better, to become the world as it is. There's no question of the imaginary, of fantasy, of the fantastic, of hope, despair, of avant-garde artistic activity, etc. ... This thought, which deserves to be described correctly, is different from the ordinary awareness of the world." (H. Torczyner, Magritte, Ideas and Images, New York, 1977, p. 263)
Magritte was always interested in revealing the affinities and relations between conventional commonplace elements by means of displacements, juxtapositions, fusions and disparities of scale; his technique and style are straightforward since he felt that painterly devices and distortion distract from the 'poetic purity' of the image.
"L'essentiel est que Magritte nous a imposé, dans la réalité de tous les jours, sa vision poétique, insolite et sur-réelle des choses. Si le terme Musée imaginaire de Malraux - si mal compris, parce que si mal défini - a un sens, c'est bien à Magritte qu'il convient de l'appliquer. Nous portons son oeuvre en nous et, dorénavant, il nous est impossible de regarder notre entourage autrement qu'à travers le prisme de sa fantaisie. Il nous prémunit contre le mensonge de la réalité et nous introduit dans l'irréel comme si nous changions de tramway, mais jamais il ne nous montre la frontière entre ces deux mondes." (Exhibition catalogue, E. Langui (Intro.) Retrospective René Magritte, Tokyo, 1971). A similar gouache, dated 1947, was exhibited in the Retrospective Magritte dans les collections privées, Brussels, (illustrated p. 181).
This work will be included in Volume IV of the Magritte catalogue raisonné edited by David Sylvester
Sarah Whitfield has kindly informed us that Magritte made two oil paintings of this subject: one in 1938, the other in 1942. He then followed this with a gouache version for his American dealer, Alexander Lolas, in 1947. It is possible that this second gouache of the subject was also made for Lolas, a year or so later.
Magritte was always interested in revealing the affinities and relations between conventional commonplace elements by means of displacements, juxtapositions, fusions and disparities of scale; his technique and style are straightforward since he felt that painterly devices and distortion distract from the 'poetic purity' of the image.
"L'essentiel est que Magritte nous a imposé, dans la réalité de tous les jours, sa vision poétique, insolite et sur-réelle des choses. Si le terme Musée imaginaire de Malraux - si mal compris, parce que si mal défini - a un sens, c'est bien à Magritte qu'il convient de l'appliquer. Nous portons son oeuvre en nous et, dorénavant, il nous est impossible de regarder notre entourage autrement qu'à travers le prisme de sa fantaisie. Il nous prémunit contre le mensonge de la réalité et nous introduit dans l'irréel comme si nous changions de tramway, mais jamais il ne nous montre la frontière entre ces deux mondes." (Exhibition catalogue, E. Langui (Intro.) Retrospective René Magritte, Tokyo, 1971). A similar gouache, dated 1947, was exhibited in the Retrospective Magritte dans les collections privées, Brussels, (illustrated p. 181).
This work will be included in Volume IV of the Magritte catalogue raisonné edited by David Sylvester
Sarah Whitfield has kindly informed us that Magritte made two oil paintings of this subject: one in 1938, the other in 1942. He then followed this with a gouache version for his American dealer, Alexander Lolas, in 1947. It is possible that this second gouache of the subject was also made for Lolas, a year or so later.