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i

Rene MaP-lae (1898-1967) created imagesthat ar anion '^ lio most enigmatic inmodern art. His meticulously paintedcloud-filled skies, bowler-hatted men, andoversized household objects have had aprofound inf. '^'^'^e on the art of thetwentieth centurv This is not a pipe," hewrote beneath his precisely realisticpainting of a pipe, proposing the simplenotion that a representation of a pipe anda pipe itself are nc one and the same.Mafntte painted in order to evoke the

essential mystery of the world. Calling into

question the word pipe also showed hisimpatience with the urge to ascribemeanings to thingsincluding his own art.He intended that his paintings provokethought, not reveal his own thoughtprocesses. With his unexpected pairing ofapparently uiirelated objects, he combinedthe commonplace with the fantastic tobecome the master of "magic realism."

Magritte coilaborated with the ParisSurrealists, but kept his distance from theintellectual and artistic hub of Europe inthe 1920s, preferring to live in his native

Belgium. There he joined with friends toform the less flamboyant Brussels branchof the Surrealists.

This book provides the reader with anintroduction to the world of Magritte'smagic reaUsm, reproducing in color 63of his most important works.

Boston Public Library

75 illustrations, including 63 platesin full color

M \ n

Ill

moAftJiitii

Great Modern Masters

Magritte

Genenil Editor: Jose Maria F'aonui

Dauslatcdfroni the SjHmish hy Alberto Cumtto

CAMEO/ABI^XMS

IIAI^KV N. ABKAMS, INC., PI RMSllKK'S

The Art of Living, 1967. Oil on canvas, 25'A X 21%" (65 X 54 nn). Private collection.

Magritte's Surrealism

CD BR

ND6 73.M35A41996

In December 1929,two years after joiniiiji the ranks of the Paris

Surrealist's, Rene Magritte published his most important coiitribulion to

La Revolution suiTealiste, the journal that served as the grou|)'s mainavenue of communication, in a box, below the title Words (dkI linages,Magritte made eighteen little drawings, each acc-ompju\ied by an aphoris-tic statement. Thus, "an object never perfonns the same function as itsname or image" is illustrated by the likeness of a horse portrayed in apainting and by a person uttering the word "horse"; ";ui object's relation toits name is never so close as to make it impossible to find a more tittingone" is followed by the drawing of a leal" and the word "camion"; a womansaying "the sun" is paired with the sentence "a word can substitute for anobject in reality," and so forth.

-.r.

Hm^ Magnlle, amight, M-i/A kiM

bmthrrt, haul

and Raymond

Reality and a New Order

This simple manifesto encapsulates the essence of Rene Magritte's work.

Magritte's paintings are groundetl in the awiueness that the link betweenobjects and their names, meanings, and func-tions is nuich more precari-ous than one may be led to believe from the routines of everyday life. As apainter Magritte took it upon himself to suggest new ways of organizing

reality. "The universe is cluuiged," wrote Louis Scutenaire of his friend

Magritte, "nothing is ordinaiy anymore." In this respect, Magritte's paint-

ing is conceptual and alien to such typical values of the painterly traditionas color, texture, and the contrast between light ;uid shadow. Magritte'swork is a critical and revelatoiy tyi)e of

Magritte at wurk in 196J.

m.s drawing, front n scries entitled TheLesson of the Things, is accompanied bythe caption "SeenJ'rom the inside," and ispart of a sequence about the poetic

possibilities of a head and a top hat.

The painter's atelier/living room in 1965;the painting with objects of impossibledimensions and properties is typical ofhis works.

II

his paintings instead resulted from a rigorous, logical intellectualprocess of discovering unusual realities in everyday life. This is perhapswhy his association with Bretonthat is to say with canonicalSurrealismwas always tenuous; the two men maintained a constantbut distant relationship.

Conceptual Games

In his paintings Magritte uses objects that are familiar to the viewer. Andif some are not at first familiar, they become familiar as the artist repeatsmany of them throughout his works. But although he represents theseobjects in a realistic, objective way, he establishes unsettling relationsbetween them. This turn of events is produced several different ways:from simple dislocationsforests of wooden balusters, bells floating inmidair; to conflicting associationsa face made from a woman's nakedtorso, with its breasts becoming the eyes and its genitals the mouth; orparadoxical associationsclouds flowing through open doors, painted

landscapes melting into the real landscape that they represent.

Throughout his career, Magritte continuously refined and reinventedthis conceptual game, making the most of any possible associationsordisassociationsthat might exist between objects. His subtle but graphicmetaphors appealed to the advertising world and many of his images arenow familiar corporate icons: an eye superimposed on a cloudy blue skybecame the logo for CBS television and the Belgian airUne Sabena used avariation of his soaring "sky-bird" as th^ir symbol. In time the unusual

associations ofcommon images would be complemented by objects trans-formed into different objects, with which they shared some type of rela-tion, either by proximity or by opposition. Thus an apple or the disk of thesun can occupy the space of a person's missing head, while the veins of a

leaf can hold and accommodate birds like branches on a tree.

Rene Magritte1898-1967Magritte was born in the small Belgian town of Lessines, about forty

miles southwest of Brussels. Apart from a few years in Paris in the1920s, Magritte spent his life in Belgium, moving often, since childhood,from towTi to town. His father, Leopold, was a tailor and later owned suc-cessful food businesses. His mother, Regina, who had been a dressmakerand a milliner before getting married, committed suicide by jumping intothe Sambre River at Chatelet, near Lessines, in 1912. The impact of thistragic event on the young Magritte can be seen in many of his paintingsmade years later. In both Tfie Central Story (1928) and Tlie Lovers (1928)there are figures whose heads are covered by a cloth, reminiscent of thenightgown that was said to be wrapped around his mother's face when herbody was found in the river. In 1913 Magritte's family moved to Charleroi,where he met Georgette Berger. He did not see Georgette again until 1920,

6

but in 1922 the two were married and reinaii\ed togetlu-r for the rest oftheir Uves.

Magic and Painting

Magritle told the sloiy of liow one sinnnicr, ;ls a chihl, he and a htlie ^jirlused to play in a nearby cenielei-y, exploring the dark (^pts lonelher. ( )neevening ;us they were leaving tiie graveyard, Magritte caught sight of a

painter in a nearby pophu- grove. This single image somehow ga\c theyoung Magritte the sense of painting as a magical act, charged with reve-latory powers. Indeed, a sense of tlie magic and mystery in art remainedwith Magritte throughout his life imd, interestingly, his art later csune to bedescribed as "magic realism."

Magritte took ai1 cUusses ;ls a child but started a more fonual pui-suit of

the arts in 1916, when he began to study at the Academic des Beaux-Artsin Brussels. Like many other painters of the period, he was heavily influ-enced by the Impressionists, but soon discovered the works of the ItiilianFuturists, particuhu-ly Giorgio de Chirico. Magritte was moved to tearswhen he first saw a reproduction of de Chirico's Tfic Song of Lore ( 1914)around 1923. He described it as "a new vision through which the spectatormight recognize his own isolation and hear the silence of tlie world."

In the early 192()s Magritte earned a living designing wallpaper for the

firm Peeters-Lacroix and making commercial drawings. During this timehe met several young like-minded writers and artists, including PierreBourgeois, E. L. T. Mesens, Camille Goemans, Marcel Lecomte, Paul

Nouge, and Andre Souris; together they eventually formed the BelgianSurrealist group.

Ihilike their more flamboyant Parisian counterjiarts, the Belgian Sur-realists conducted their arti.stic and philoso|)hical forays from the obscu-rity of bourgeois li\esthey were wallpaper designei-s, schoolteachers,

biochemists, and civil senants. Describing the decidedly "non-sune;ilist"decor of the home of his friend Magritte (who never had ;ui "artist s stu-dio," preferring instead to paint in his family room), Goemjuis wrote:"What 1 wanted to siiow, by referring to Magritte's day-to-day behavior.was that Surrealism doesn't necessarily in\pl\ a rowdy, tempestuous exis-

tence, it doesn't imply a rigorous refu.sal to li\c more or less like e\ eiyone

else in conditions we have been gi\en, ;m(l that it is possible to hv aSurrealist vwu wIumi one pays ones tax(>s and ob(>vs fraflic regulations."

(iiinyilli- .Uagrillr pholograplud trtlh(U)i the artist and his wife livtnl for three yeaix in U> Perreux-sur-Marne, just outside of Paris. Ilert\ thanks to his Belgian friend (ioe-

n\ans, who had opened a gallen in Paris. Magrilli' met .\ndre Breton :uidthe Surrealist paintei-s. Together with Max Krnst, .lean

.\n). .loan Nhro. andSalvador Dali, Magritte showed some of his works in the Surrealist exhi-bition of 192S al (i()cin;uis'sgaller.\ Magiitte ii\itially participated in all the

w

>',

iHspimi by Ikr thai hr lotrd to n-%nL

Magritte in 1960, photographed by SuziGablik, who wrote an importayitmonograph on the artist.

Megalomania, 1967. Just before he diedMagritte began making sculptures, oftenbased on his paintings. This one was cast

in bronze the year of his death and isinspired by a picture that he had paintedsix years earlier.

activities of the group and contributed to La Revolution surrealiste,whose last issue included his Words and Images, a genuine manifesto ofMagritte's painterly ideology.

A Straight Path

After he moved back to Brussels in 1930 Magritte's association with theParisian group continued but took on a less-intense character; he con-tributed The Rape in 1934 for the jacket of Breton's Qu'est-ce que le Sur-realisme? and the cover image for the tenth issue of the Surrealist reviewMinotaure, in 1937. The previous year Magritte had his first show in NewYork and took part in several international Surrealist exhibitions.

During the Second World War Magritte's commercial career was tem-porarily put on hold, although he continued to paint. The consistency ofMagritte's philosophy makes it difficult to speak of an evolution in hiswork or to distinguish between different phases; but during the war yearsMagritte embarked on some rare stylistic experimentations. Belgium wasinvaded by Germany early on and perhaps in an attempt to raise his spir-its from the gloom of occupation, Magritte began painting in a colorful,exuberant style knowoi as his "Impressionist" or "Renoir" period. Thesepaintings borrowed the style and subject matter of the Impressionists

reclining female nudes, pastel coloring, loose brushstrokesbut still

maintained a provocative element. The hard-core Paris Surrealists, how-ever, frowned upon this body of workThe "vache" period also emerged during the war years and comprised a

group of more than twenty cartoon-like, burlesque canvases painted with

rough, thick brushstrokes and garish colors, very imfike the clean, sub-dued qualities of his customary style. However, these were merely paren-theses and Magritte subsequently resumed the unmistakable style that hasmade his canvases so easily recognizable since the late 1920s.

At the end of the war Magritte joined the Belgian Communist Party (hehad been active in the party twice before during the previous decade). Theparty's reactionary position with regard to artistic matters, however, soon

caused him to withdraw. While he continued with his own work, he alsoresumed his Surrealist activities, contributing to manifestos and pam-phlets and renewing ties with old colleagues from the Belgian Surrealistgroup, such as Nouge, Scutenaire, and Marcel Marien.

A double portrait of the artist in the bowlerhat worn by so many of the characters inhis paintings. The year of this portrait,

1965, Magritte traveled to the United States

for the opening of the New Yorkretrospective of his work at The Museum ofModem Art.

The Final Years

In the 1950s Magritte received several large-scale commissions, including

the ceiling of the Theatre Royale in Brussels and the walls of the gamingroom of the casino in Knokke-le-Zoute where, in 1952, his works wereshown together with those of Paul Delvaux. A large retrospective at thePalais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels two years later established his reputa-

tion as Belgium's foremost modem painter. He continued paintingandeven took up sculptinguntil his death; he also kept up his contributions

to several reviews and, beginning in 1957, he created some short films fea-

turing Georgette and their friends. International retrospectives of his

work proliferated until the time of his death, including one at the Museimiof Modem Ait in New York. The images recurring in his works areundoubtedly among the most characteristic of all modem art.

8

Plates

1fnaguSt

Displaced Objects

"His art has the power to alter our perception of reaUty," a critic wrote of Magritte. hideed,while his style of painting is realistic and the objects he paints are often easily recognizable,their context is not: loaves of bread float in the air, a tree is superimposed on a leaf, a balloontakes the place of an eye. This altering of reality through a displacement of objects is the mainmechanism that Magritte adopts to reveal the hidden properties of the everyday and evoke themystery of familiar objects. "The cracks that we see in our homes and our faces," he said, "Ihave already found more eloquently in the sky; the carved wooden legs of a table would losetheir typical innocent existence if they suddenly appeared to dominate a forest." These dis-placements, greatly influenced by the early collages of Max Ernst, become conceptually morecomplex when the objects are, in fact, somehow related and not just arbitrarily thrown togeth-er. In 1936 Magritte had an enigmatic dream-vision in which he saw a large egg inside a birdcage instead of the sleeping bird that was actually in the cage: "Thus I discovered a new andastonishing poetic secret since the impact of the image was created by the afflnity between thecage and the egg, while previously the impact of images derived from encounters of foreignobjects bearing no relation to each other."

1 Threatening Weather,

19^9. Mngrillc iras often

amused, ifnot irritated,lui attempts to explain

llic sifinifictince ofliis

imagery; he hoped thathis paintings wouldi)ifipire ideas rather

than express Ihem.

10

2 Tlic \ oicf tif tlu" VMikIs, 19^)1. (Sianl sirigh Mis_rtt>aling in midair air rrmrrrwl

iiiitit/is III Miufritlr's iMiititiiifts fniw Ihr loir I'l(mill llir iitniir III llniHiiiiliiig). ami i/rl tliry Sia i)iiiliiifi Its (I iiiiiins oflwaring "Ihe silntcr qflhr uxtrid.'

II

3, 4 The Annunciation, 1930. The Difficult Crossing,undated. Tlie bells seen in the previous paintingreappear here along with another Magritte staple,wooden balusters or table legs, "bilboqurts," asMagritte, who ivas a skilled car-penter, called them inFrench. In The Annunciation, they are displaced inwhat appears to be a forest of signs. In the drau'ing,they look like enigmatic characters watihing atroubled ship at sea, as indicated by the captionbeneath: "Three objects by a curiain looking at a shipin a storm from a stone balcony."

5 Tlie Traveler, 1937. Tlie association of apparently

unrelated objects gives rise to a neiv shape: thesphere, which reveals an unlikely complicity.

6, 7 Prince Charming, 1948. The Dark Glasses, 1951.Objects are transformed by association into oneanother. Prince Charming is an ejcample of Magritte'ssomewhat grotesque, cartoon-like "vache" style ofpainting.

12

8 The (Jolden Legend, 1058. Baguettes substitutefor clouds in the sliy.

9, 10 The Devil's Smile, 1966. The Last Scream, 7.967. The relationships betweenthe suprriiiijxj.'ied objects arc, bafflingly, apparent, niakirif/ one reconsider eventhe traditional order of things.

10

11 The (jLsi loinllu" I'yiciuvs. Iiiliirili/ illtill- Iniliit Stiiirs

iiirii'iisril.

15

12 The Beautiful World, c. I960. Magritle wasfascinated by thecloudy sky as a real and a painted backdrop. Realily, it wouldseem, can be simply copied onlo a canvas.

16

mm^i^

13 'riic lU'aulifiil K'chiluiiis. /."'fir 77iiii- (/i,s;>/ii(-t/ n'V-

inniinilli/, II II iii-kiiifi iiliilitiiisliii>, iiiiHiiiriiii] It til I >nl

iin-aiiiiig; sonirHiing likr Ihrfacr qf the unifrrsr siidiimly apitrtrsill llii- lirilight ski/.

i:

k14

VT

Metamorphosis of the Object

In some of his more extreme instances of "displacement," Magritte actual-

ly transforms one object into another. His paintings are populated withhybrid beings and objects halfway between two states"mergings" asMagritte called them. These are actually transference phenomena, sinceone thing can be mistaken for another to which it is functionally related

the dress or the shoe taking the shape of the body or the footor withwhich it bears some formal similaritythe fish transformed into a cigar.These transferences emphasize the fragility of the conventions that rulelanguage, one of the overriding themes of Magritte 's work. In one of hismost emblematic paintings, beneath the unmistakable image of a pipe aline of text reads "this is not a pipe" (see page 7). This illustrates the factthat what we see is only the representation of an object and not the objectitself, and also leads us to reflect upon the mystery of the most innocent ofappearances. Magritte wrote in 1929 that "an object's relation to its nameis never so close as to make it impossible to find a more fitting one."

14 Metamorphosis of the Object (A Studyfor an Ashtray), 1933. "Dear Lady Admirer,Here is the bottom. If a person rvith

ashtrays wants to put a bonier on it, he

should simply put equal concentric circleson a white border: the same ivhite as the

drawing. I hope it will please you as muchas Cleopatra pleased Bonaparte. Until one

of these days soon. Yours, M."

18

15, 16 Colleclivplnvonlion. I9:V). Tlio Exception. 1961 fhspilr Ihrir simUarilies. the

criteria ruling the tivojishy Irnii.sjoniKitioii.'i aiv diXlrn-nt. hi thijonurr. tin- rffitl i.s-determined by the inversion ofa familiar, iffantastical, imagethe mermaid; uhilr

in the latter, the effect resides in the merging oflieo rtitirely unrelated objects

19

"l-^vtu^

20

. 4

17, 18 Treasure Island, im^. The Nalurai Cirares,IDIiJ. HInl.s, tn'rs. (ind Irart-s an- iilirai/x n-lntifi inMaghllr's paintings. Urn- hints changv into leaves,endowing an imaginary island and a clump ofleat'es ivilh a most mysterious character.

19 Tlu' Inwiiril (Jji/e. /.'J^i*. The analogy hettct-en thereins of the leaj anil the hratiehes oj'a tree isn-inj'inveil by the natural relation l>et>eeen Irre,bmnch, and le^f. The scale of the birds and the lefif.as well as their fiositio}! inside a ntom. add to thediseoneertiny ambiguity of the si'vne.

21

20 Philosophy in the Boudoir, 1947. Magritte wasfascinated by the synthesis ofobjects: a cigar heconics a fish, the landscape is transformed into an eagle, and here,shoes and clothing merge with the bodg. Magritte had explored this last thone, anightgown assuming the shape of the body that it is meant to cover, ten years earliervnth In Memoriam Mack Sennctt.

22

21 Tlif noiiuiin (if Anilx'iiu. I9ti? Mniirittf smti that this ixiinlitii) ' ..j,i

risidii Hull Htlijiii .Minn /'oc iikuUI liitii' iipfiifitiliti. " 77i' minoifdiN - , < tiir't

J'orni ill Hir shaiM' ofa biirl spnniliiig its irigs,''a mrlamorithosis rfidmtly rWfl/nrf tollir ri/fis ill till- iii'sl

22

22 Painted bottle,undated. Magritte beganpainting bottles duringthe Second World War,when canvas was hard tocome by. TTiis was one ofa

few artistic experimentsthat he made during thewar years. This exampleis no doubtfrom theforties, althoughfew of thebottles are titled or dated.

A genie or spirit trappedinside peers out into a

starry sky.

23 The Idol, 1965. As inThe Domain of Amheiin, aItird appears to be

contaminated by the rockyworld along the coast, inodd contrast to theweightlessness offlight.

24

S5

Conflicting Images

The main function of painting, according to Magritte, is to convert a gazeinto a tool of knowledge, forcing one "to think in distinct, unaccustomedways." To achieve this goal, the familiar objects that constitute Magritte 'sthematic repertoire acquire a problematic character. One of the artist'smeans of accomplishing this is to establish conflicting associations be-tween objects, thereby releasing a provocative and poetic force that isotherwise inactive. The mechanisms employed to create such conflicts arevaried: changing the habitual location of a familiar scene; reversing thetraditional order of elements; or modifying the scale of objects in relationto their settings. The aim of these operations is to disconcert the viewerand reveal possible alternatives to what seems to be forever fixed andunchanging.

24 The Sentimental Colloquy (TheGuides), 1937. From wooden balusters andcannons arise tivo characters absorbed in a

mysterious moonlit dialogue.

26

26 Naiunil Kiuoimti-rs, /.'

I28

26 Memory, W.'Ifi. Viis stone rlassiral tmst, which is at the name

litiit'JU'sh and lilood, crokt's Gioiyia

28

/

fTia^tixit.

28 The Brant iful Realities, 1964. Magnlte here turns the traditional artistic "still life"

offruit on a lalAr literaUy upon its head. The relation between the apple and the table

are entirely reversed: .scale, relative position, and location. Theyfloat in midair,

against a background of the sea or sky.

30

29 The Soil of MiUl, lt>Hi Miu/ntir u-mlr itlxnit lliis ixniilnifj. Kitjijlliiiig uy l

32

30 l):uition>u.s Kelalionships, /.ckiiig. or in fad m ' uifs.

Hill ill lliis insr. tin- ivjiirUii inuuif siiiiuIUihimusIij . - itnd

coiilnulirls llir iniaiir that il hiiirs.

M I'li-siinal \idiu>s. IHH:.'. Tlir |nt^tl

32

32 Search for the Tnith, 7.966. Ac/niii, the influence ofde Chiricois clearly cuident. AJish appears uj'loi in the canvases ofdeChirico, as does the windowsill setting. The bell, however, is pure

Magritte.

34

33 Tlu> Maniod Priest. I!>r,l Mnfirillc imiiitiiisvvcnil ifisiuiia iij lliis stimr lliimr JtirnI h-asl triiyears. Tlir title votm-s/mm a lulc urittrii bi/ JiiirsHaiiiri/ilAiinrilli/ in ISIi.'). in irhiih innniiiiiniist (iikI his ddiit/litri nir ihsliiiitllt>r a tniifir .

The Dominion of Light

Beginning in 1949 and until the time of his death, Magritte created sixteenpaintings revolving around the same theme. The last of these works werenever completed. They all bear the same title, The Dominion ofLight, andthey all involve a house or group of houses set amidst trees and illuminat-ed by the electric lights from their windows and from streetlights. Theywere among the artist's biggest commercial successes. Oddly, whilethe heavens above are of a clear daytime blue, furrowed by the "good-weather" clouds often seen in Magritte's skiesnighttime reigns in the

bottom half of the canvases. Yet the incompatibility of the sky above andthe night below is not perceived at a first glance. The Dominion seriescomprises a painted manifesto of Magritte's artistic ideology, according towhich painting is a tool that can reveal ideas and establish realities whosevirtuality cannot be verified in everyday experience.

34 The Dominion of Ught II, 1950. Hiemeticulous realism of these paintingsdisguises the phenomenal iinpossibililt/ ofthe scenethe co-e.ristenre ofday andnightthereby making it paradoxicallymore disquieting.

35 The Dominion of Light, 195-11. in someof the variations of this .scries, the scene is

transported to a lake, ivhcrc tlic rejicction

of the electnc lights on the surface of the

water reinforces the overall effect of the

composition.

36

37

36 The Dominion of Light, 1948. TlieDominion paintings were Magritte'smost popular sellers, lliis is one of theearliest in the series.

37 Tlie Dominion of Light , unfinished.1967. MagriMe umrked almostobsessively on this series until the dai/

of his death; the reconciliation ofopposiles ivas a Sun-ealist andMagrittean passion. Tliis is one of thelast canvases in the series, paintedshortly before the artist's death.

II II II

11 II

38

38 Till" Doiniiuoii of Li>;lil, 1!>').1. As llir rirw is iiiiirli iiiurr(iislaiil Hint Hir ilrtaih

The "Renoir" PeriodIn 1943 Magritte's work took an unexpected twist. He produced a series ofpaintings in which his usual subdued, realistic manner of representationwas replaced by images crackling with color and life and constructed withloose brushstrokes reminiscent of Renoir's late style. It became known ashis "Renoir" or "Impressionist" period, although Magritte himself pre-

ferred to describe it as "Sunlit Surrealism." Ironically, this move towardscheerful, vivacious canvases took place in the midst of the Second WorldWar, in stark contrast to the far more somber reality surrounding him. It isas though the painter subjected his work to a tour de force to demonstratethe ultimate displacementbrightness during wartimeand the power ofart to transform one's state of mind. Magritte saw this body of work asa life-enhancing emergence from the darkness of Surrealismand war.His critics, however, did not approve; they compared this departure toGiorgio de Chirico's return to classicism and Magritte was "excommuni-cated" from the ranks of the Surrealists. Magritte soon returned to hisestablished style, but despite his detractors he remained convinced thatthese paintings were an essential part of his work.

39 The Smile, 194A. Instead of"contracting" the drab stone surface of so

many other Magritte images, the tombstonehere ironically assumes the vibrant colois.

from a sunvunding field nffioweis. Of itstitle Magritte wrote: "[itJ is neither

gratuitous nor arbitrary: tlie picture, by

wfiat it conjurer up, causes the spectatorto smile n peculiar smile and this justifiesits title.

"

40

).

40 'Hu' Kirsi Day, /.'')./. Tliis fMintituifnim SUifiiittr's uxtt^limr

"Impn'ssioiiisI" itliiisr is ;n/MiW/ thr rlitsvsl tit (hr ftainlings thai

Renoir r.rifiihtl iil /,

Interior and ExteriorThe transition between interior and exterior is explored in many ofMagritte's paintings. Doors, windows, frames, and mirrors are recurringelements in his works, functioning often in perplexing waysa cloud

enters a house through an open door, a vase of flowers becomes a windowonto a landscape, and a painting before a window replaces the fragment ofthe \ista that it represents. This last methodthat of a painting within apainting depicting the same landscape that the canvas hideshas pro-

duced some of Magritte's best-known works. The idea of a painting as avirtual window has been at the root of western art since theRenaissance. Magritte exhausts the conceptual possibilities of this

metaphor and turns it into a meditation on the nature of painting versusreality: the objects in his painting, he explained, are "at the same timeinside the house, within the painting and without, and in the real land-scapewhich, in turn, is also a painted landscape. Their existence in two

different spaces at the same time is similar to existing in both the past andthe present simultaneously."

41 Poison, 1939. T)ie door's spalial

medialion becomes a poetic mediation notonly by letting in the cloud, but (dso bytaking on the color and appearance of thesea and the sky outside.

42

42 Tin" Clouds. I!).t9. Tlir imiiitiiin litrnillij Ixritnii-s a iriiiiloH:

iiiradiiifi llir inlrriar sfHirv in irliirh llif nist-i standa. hij trtliiig in

llir (7M(/,s- 7"nm Ihr [Hiiiidti tiiounlahi IniulscaiM- on tin- ntmns; il

is (il.so a mi-Uiithorfor Ihr iWn/iori tH-liiifii ixtiiiliiig mid riru^rr

4.t

43 The Human Condition, 1934. T)iis is one of the earlieslpaintings in which, using an easel placed before a window,Magritte explored the relntioji.ship helircen painting and realilg. IIcomments on the way in which painting can invade the naturallandscape, just as the painted clouds in the previou,s paintinginvaded a human-made landscape.

M4

44 Month of llu'(iri>|H'-n;u-\'sl. /.'>.W. Tlirfrii-ir oJ'tHiwirrhntltflMiifirillvan rhamclris hrhiiiil the wiiiiinw ran almost tn- vietf*\i as

a iHirtir iiiirn)r. a sort of mvlnitlmr

45 The Bosom, 1961. Tliis picture resultsfrom a complex seriesof mutations: a jumbled heap of ashlar turning into houses, toivhick it is functionally related. At the same time, the regularity ofthe house-likefoiTns coritrasts ivilh the arbitrariness of their

accumulation.

46

Mi Mi'inon iira.loiinic.v. /.'W.l. m.s i>rlr(lieii scriir ix somrhoH-iiii/slrriiiiislii ilhiiiiiiiatitl /(/ Ihr lif/ht raslj'nwi a sUtnr rnmilr

47

I48

47 Where Eiirlid Walked, I9'>5. Xaiimtjhr (lir u-til-kiiou-uniothi'rndlirian, this ftaitilitig /ilays with Ihhi (liaiiffularforms. Ilis also nil iiiiagiiialiiH- look at llir laiitlsraiir as iminling.

48 Tl>e rnniiLsked I'niverse. UKU. In n chamrtnislir Magrillraniiircisioii of Iniilitioiial onlri; ttir skij iii>itn>i>nalrs Ih 'lic

onlrr of a hiiiltliiifi, ifliich, in liiiii, Ikis Ixfii liinntl i >> byIhr m1)ilniriiirss ol iialiin:

49

49 Tlie Memoirs of a Saint, 1960. The curving seascape, enclosed in a jxinidoxicalstage, reveals the roundness of the worlda well-known fact, but one that is notolhoivise visible In Ihr naked eye. Tliefolded upper right enrner. hmvever. adds anenigmatic element.

50

T

50, 51 ri;ini;insm. imil TH' Countn . .1 Mm . I-r. I9li0. Tiiti riisi-s oj'fhim'iii art as u ,i, ,!.. > ../,, Ihr

natural woiidfrtini which thry cinnr.

51

IM

52 The Field-Glass, 1963. What lies behind the door,clear blue skies or the void? Magriltc here illustrates

how "an object can be problematic"; the problemexplored is the mediatingfunction of the windowbetween two disiitni liiit complem,entary spaces.

53 The Call of Blood, 1961. The opposition ofexterior and intei'ior is compounded by theopposition oftlie natural and the artificial.

52

w

Absence and Presence

"For me," Magritte once wrote, "the concept of a picture is an idea of one

or more things that can be made visible through my painting. . . . The ideais not itself visible in the painting: an idea cannot be seen with one's eyes."The rhetorical techniques that Magritte employs in his paintings amountto a meditation on the presence and the absence of things. These funda-mental qualities are not to be found in the objects themselves, rather theyarise from their interaction with other objects and with the \iewers.Painting however, or at least the conceptual type of painting in whichMagritte was interested, can employ and make visible the absence of anobject. His paintings are problematic hypotheses of reality; they under-score its mystery, without providing a solution. This is why Magritte al-ways shunned descriptive or explanatory titles: "titles must provide asupplemental protection, discouraging any attempt to reduce genuinepoetry to a game with no consequences."

54 Bather, 1923. TlicJIal, linear

sifjiizaliori of this early work betrays theiiifluencp ofRobert Delaunay and theFuliirisls. irliieli Idler gave way lo itwreSiirrealisI imagery.

55 The Unexpected Answer, 1933. Theartist described this painting as shotving"a closed door of a bedroom through irhicha shapeless hole reveals the night."

54

55

56

50 rin- Aiiu)H)iis

Nista, 1{M5. llieihirkciicd iiilcrior is

itoic t)-(ttisl(in)if(l iiild

(I hrifiht laiiilsiiiiK-

with a lirr. a lioiisi;

tiinl Ihr srii.

57 Til. ^

Thilh. /

ftainlii, .

6y IjiriHanto tin \ (mti kIj.st Si|t|N>r. H-hiHtMnifiltr SUM- in Ikf

tabi, .IN

fop of If iiir ftrntirted

OH/a st>

Hi^f nnrr k>i' >H* MUM' ha*

&S

coUagm iff Utur fVx vf

59 The Great Family, 1963. "Bird in llic .s7i//, crossed by skies," the pod HenriMichau.r wrote of this painting. A bird of prey, emcrtfingfroni the water, is one ofMagritte'sfinest examples of the relativily of borders to presence and absence.

58

60 Tlie UuMvr of Fin

fil

'^it^fttak

(il Justice Has Been Done, 1958. The charadcr dressed as a classiail Iribmir isHan-y Torczyner, MagriUe's lawyer and goodfnend, and later a scholar and collectorof the artist's work. The balloon over his head is appnrrriHi/ an allusion to Torrzi/ver'slove of travel.

62 Carte Blanche, 1965. Up until the end MagrMe continued to befascinated by thedifference between the visible and. that which is not visibleas distinctfrom the"invisible." This painting is a variation on his paintings before a window.

60

iii'^.

61

List of Plates

1 Throateniiis Weather. l. Oil on canvas, 21 'A X 25%" (54 X 65 cm).Private collection, Wa.sliiufjlon, D.C.

3 Ti>e Annunciation, 19S0. Oil on canvas, 45% X ST'A:" '

(IK) X 14(icm). Trustees of the Tate Gatlenj, London

4 Tile Difficult Crossing, undated. Ink and pencil, 5'A X 5'/."

(13 X l.icni). Harrt/ Toresyner Collection, Neie York

5 Tlie Tiaveler, 1937. Oil on canvas, 21Vh X 26" (55 x 66 cm).Private collection, Brussels

6 I'rince Charming, 1948. Gouache, 17% x 12%" (45 X 32 cm).Mr. and Mrs. Louis Sculenaire Collection, Bru.^isels

7 The Darl< Glasses, 1951. Oil on canvas, 22% X 19%"(57.5 X 48.5 cm). Private collection. New York

8 The Colden Legend, 1958. Oil on canvas, 38'A x ,58'//'

(97 X DO em). Private collection. Photo: Giraudoti

9 The Devil's Smile, 1966. Colored pencil on paper, 13 'A x lO'A"(35 X 26.5 cm). Private collection. New York

10 The Last Scream, 1967. Oil on canvas, 31'A' X 25%x"(80 X 65 cm). Dr. Jean Robert Collection, Bru.fsels

24 The Sentimental Colloquy (The Guides), 1937. Red chalk onpaper, 14'A X 18%" (36 x 46 cm). Jean-Louis Merckx CoUeclion,Bni.ssels

25 Natural Encounters, 1945. Oil on canvas, 31'/^ X 25Vx "

(80 X 65 cm). Mr. and Mrs. Louis Sculenaire Collectio)i, Bntssels

26 Memory, 1938. Oil on canvas, 28'A x 21%" (72.5 x 54 cm).The Menil Collection, Houston

27 The Listening-Room, 7.95.9. Oil on canvas, 15 x 17 A"

(38 X 45 cm). Private collection. Photo: Giraudon

28 The Beautiful Realities, 1964. Oil on canvas, 19Vs X 15A"(50 X 40 cm). Isij Braehot Galloy, Brussels

29 The Son of Man, 1964. Oil on canvas, 45A x 35"(116 X 89 cm). Hany Torczyner Collection, Neiv York.Photo: Giraudon

30 Dangerous Relationships, 7936. Gouache, 28'A x 25'A"

(72 X 6"^ cm). Private collection. Photo: Giraudon

11 The Castle in the Pyrenees, 1959. Oil on canvas,78 A X 55'A" (200 x 140.5 cm). Israel Museum, Jerusalem.Photo: Giraudon

12 The Beautiful World, c. 1960. Oil on canvas, 39'A x 31 7"

(100 X 81 cm). Private collection, Biu.ssels

31 Personal Values, 7952. Oil on canvas, 31% X 39%"(81 X 700 em). Private collection, New York

32 Search for the Truth, 7966. Oil on canvas, 57Vi X-H7*"

(146 X 1 14 cm). Musces Royaux des Beaux-Arts dc Belgique,Bmssels

13 Tlie Beautiful Relations, 7967. Oil on canvas, 15 A X 12V"

(40 X 32 em). Private collection. Photo: Giraudon33 The Married Priest, 7967. 0(7 on canvas, 17'A x 21Ys'(45 X ,55 cm). Private collection. Photo: Giraudon

14 Melamori)hosis of the Object (A Study for an Ashtray), 7933.Gouache, 3VaX 3Vs" (10 x 70 cm). Private collection, Brussels

34 The Dominion of Light U, 1950. Oil on canvas, 31% X 39"(79 X 99 cm). The Museum ofModern Ait, New York

15 Collective Invention, 7935. Oil on canvas, 28 A X 45%"(73 X 116 cm). Private collection. Photo: Giraudon

16 The Exception, 7963. Oil on canvas, 13 x 16%s"(33 X 41 cm). Isy Braehot Gallery, Brussels

17 Treasure Island, 1942. Oil on canvas, 23% x 31V/(60 X 80 cm). Musees Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique,Brussels. Photo: Giraudon

35 The Dominion of Light, 1954. Oil on canvas, 57%.' X 44%/(146 X 114 cm). Musees Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique,Brussels

36 The Dominion of Light. 1948. Oil on canvas, 39%s X 31%/(100 X 80 cm). Private collection, Bi-ussels

37 The Dominion of Light, unfinished, 1967. Oil on canvas,17'A X 79%" (45 X 50 cm). Private collection. Photo: Giraudon

18 The Natural Graces, 796.2. Oil on canvas, 15% X 12%"(40 X 32 cm). Mrs. Suzanne Ochinsky Collection. Brussels

38 The Dominion of Light, 7953. Oil on canvas, 14'% X 17'A"(37 X 45 cm). Arnold Weissberger Collect ion. New York

19 The Inward Gaze, 1942. Oil on canvas, 23% X 29%/(60 X 74 cm). Private collection, Brussels

39 The Smile. 1944. Oil on canvas, 21% X 25%" (55 X 65 cm).Mr and Mrs. Louis Seutenaire Collection, Rni.'i.'iels

20 Philosophy in the Boudoir, 1947. Oil on canvas,3r/ X 24" (81 X 67 cm). Private collection, Washington. DC.

40 The First Day, 1943. Oil on canvas, 23% x 21%"(60 X 55 em). Dr Jean Robert Collection, Brussels

21 The Domain of Amheim, 796.2. Gouache, 13% X 70'/,"(34 X 26 cm). Pi'ivate collection. Photo: Giraudon

41 Poison, 7939. Gouache, 13'A x 15%" (35 x 40 cm).Edward James Foundation Collection, Chichester, Sussex

62

42 TluCloiids. /!).{;>. (loiinrhi; /.V'/x l.f (.iJt.-i x Urm).I'rii'dir ciillrcHoii, licli/iiiiii

56 nil- AiiiomiLH N'uiia. lU.t.'i Oil on canvoM, 45K x J/ 'A*(116 X / nil) I'rittilrritHtfliiiii. HrunarU

iA The lliimari Coiulilioii. /.'A/'/. Oil on iiiiini.s. If/ X 7'A'(25.5 X JO cm) I'rii'dlr ciillrcliini. I'hoUi: (iimuiliiii

67 Till- KiulcanuR Tmih. liHW Oil u rmttxui. MX x 4TA'(ft9.2 X 120.5 rm) Vif Mfiiil Colhttioii. Hounlon

44 Month olllic (iia|)(llan('sl, l!)'>!). Oil mi ciiiirii.'i, 51 'A x ti.l"(I.H) X KiOciii). I'rii'iilr . Oil on ciinras, 29'/.- X 35%'(75 X 91 cm). I'ri rule collect iini. I'liolo: (iiriiiiilon

49 The Memoirs of a Saiiil, l!)1. Oil on canras, S5'A X 39%"(90 X 100 em). Prirate collection. lirussels

54 The Bather, 192.). Oil on canras, 19 A x .}9'A' (.50 X 100 cm).Mr and Mrs. Heriierlloi/cz ('ollectioii. lini.vsels

66 The I'liexpected Answer. 19.1.). Oil on canra.s, .?// x 21'A"(fil X ,5-4..) em). Mii.sces Roi/iiii.r dcs lieiiii.r-.'\rts de lielfiiqnc,BriLssels

Selected Bibliojjraphy

Gahlik, .Suzi, Magrilt*'. Tlianies and Hudson, Ijindoii, 1970Hammachcr, .\. .M., Ma^rille. Hany .V. Abmnis. Sew York, 1974Larkin, Darid, MaRritH". lUdlantine lUniks. Sew York, 1972Sfilrester, Darid, Ma^ritte. Fo/k/.v .Menaloi; Antu-'ii>, 1992Ton-zi/nci; Hany, Miigrille: Ideas aiwl Inuiftes. Harry .V Ahinms,.\cw Yoi-k, 1977

Whitrjield, Samh, Mii^tritle. Tlir .*ioulli Hank Cetilrr. LandoM, 1992

63

Series Coordiiuiloi; EnglisU-luuguayc rdilioii: Ellen Rosefsk>' Cohen

Editor, English-language edition: Sarah Bums

Designer, English-language edition: Judith Michael

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 95-78427

ISBN 0-8109-4680-7

Copyright 1995 Ediciones Poligrafa, S.A., and Globus Commuiiicacion, S.A.Reproductions copyright Rene Magritte. VEGAP, Barcelona, 1994English translation copyright 1996 Harry N. Abranis. Inc.

Published in 1996 by Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated, New YorkA Times Mirror CompanyAll rights reserved. No part of the contents of this book may

be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher

Printed and bound in Spain by La Poligraju, S.L.Parels del Valles (Barcelona)Dep. Leg.: B.39.913-1995

64

I

BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY

3 9999 02955 '3 Te" 9

WITHDRAWNIte te^l^ ^IW' p^perty of the

Igcj^toi^ 'r^i^ic library-

^1^1 (^frthjsmatonal benefits the Library.

ABRAMS TITLES INTHE (iKKAl MODERN MASTEK8 SERIBB

Kach iHjlumc includesapproximately ?.'> colDrjtlates

BACONCHAGALLDALI

I)E ( HIRICOKANDLNSKYKLEEKOKOSCHKAL^GERMAGRITTEMATISSEMIR6PICASSO

Other titles are in preparation

Jacket frvnl: The Son of Man. 1964. OH an naitnM. 45^ A5" (116 ^ S9mt ) Harry Ibrrrynrr CoUtrttor \ HPhoto. Giraudon. O 7.QJM C Hrrscottct, Bnisstion that a repre-sentation of a pip I^MI^E^ itself are not oneand the same. Magritte painted in order toevoke the essential mystery of the world. Cal-ling into question the word pipe also showedhis impatience with the urge to ascribe mean-ings to thingsincluding his own art. Heintended that hi:not reveal his owunnerving juxtajlated objects, he.vith the fantasti"magic realism." Magritte

)rovoke thought,ocesses. With hisapparently unre-le commonplacene the master of

collaborated withthe Paris Surrealists, but kept his distance

0-8109-4680-7

780810"946804

90000