René MAGRITTE (1898-1967)
1926 The Flesh Colored Room
2018 SOLD for £ 7.2M including premium
In 1926 in Brussels the Galerie Le Centaure invites René Magritte to prepare paintings for his first solo exhibition to be held in April and May of the next year. The young artist builds his own surreal world where the main characters are bilboquets.
In this set of a wide variety Magritte questions the nature of the human being, often limited to several cut organs. He simplifies his drawing so that the objects are immediately recognizable, making their interactions even more bizarre. He transposes in an ordinary surrounding the irrational and antique-inspired stages by De Chirico.
On February 27 in London, Christie's sells Le Groupe silencieux, oil on canvas 120 x 80 cm painted in 1926 and exhibited in 1927, lot 107 estimated £ 6.5M.
The walls of the room are pink, the color of the female nude which also excites Magritte at that time. An almost complete humanoid silhouette is a thick cropped board. Three eyes are folded on the edges of a flesh-colored cube in an iconography that anticipates Dali's soft watches.
Art did not escape this grotesque setting with the image of a castle that dissolves in the curtain and a large landscape painting carelessly leaning against the wall on the left.
Visitors are not interested in his intentionally illogical vision of the world. In August 1927 Magritte joined the surrealist group in Paris where the audience was also reluctant. Returning to Brussels in 1930 he exploited through four decades his original idea of the incongruous relations between disparate objects.
In this set of a wide variety Magritte questions the nature of the human being, often limited to several cut organs. He simplifies his drawing so that the objects are immediately recognizable, making their interactions even more bizarre. He transposes in an ordinary surrounding the irrational and antique-inspired stages by De Chirico.
On February 27 in London, Christie's sells Le Groupe silencieux, oil on canvas 120 x 80 cm painted in 1926 and exhibited in 1927, lot 107 estimated £ 6.5M.
The walls of the room are pink, the color of the female nude which also excites Magritte at that time. An almost complete humanoid silhouette is a thick cropped board. Three eyes are folded on the edges of a flesh-colored cube in an iconography that anticipates Dali's soft watches.
Art did not escape this grotesque setting with the image of a castle that dissolves in the curtain and a large landscape painting carelessly leaning against the wall on the left.
Visitors are not interested in his intentionally illogical vision of the world. In August 1927 Magritte joined the surrealist group in Paris where the audience was also reluctant. Returning to Brussels in 1930 he exploited through four decades his original idea of the incongruous relations between disparate objects.
1928 Les Jours Gigantesques by Magritte
2012 SOLD for £ 7.2M including premium by Christie's
1928 Magritte at the Edge of the Wall
2014 SOLD 6.6 M£ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
In 1928, René Magritte is in Paris. Same as Dali and Ernst, he expresses his vision of life by creating parallel universes. He is passionate about Poe but he is also still shocked by the suicide of his mother in the Sambre river 16 years earlier when he was 14.
On February 4 in London, Christie's sells Les chasseurs au bord de la nuit (Hunters at the edge of night), oil on canvas 81 x 116 cm estimated £ 6M. It was the largest format used at that time by Magritte.
Two bulky men with boots and rifles are desperately clinging to a wall. On the right, the space is free to the horizon. Nothing explains why these men do not circumvent the edge of the wall excepted the hostile vacuum of this endless landscape.
It was assumed that the wall came suddenly for separating them from any logical reality, as the Pit and the Pendulum in Poe's short story. A hunter is a killer who does not have to attract sympathy but the attitude of these men is a masterpiece of the surrealist expression of anguish and a beautiful symbol of the impotence of humanity.
The artist plays with day and night. The angle of the shadow is from twilight but the blank light does not come from the sun which just set off at the opposite.
POST SALE COMMENT
The result, £ 6.6M including premium, is in line with the estimate.
In 1928, René Magritte is in Paris. Same as Dali and Ernst, he expresses his vision of life by creating parallel universes. He is passionate about Poe but he is also still shocked by the suicide of his mother in the Sambre river 16 years earlier when he was 14.
On February 4 in London, Christie's sells Les chasseurs au bord de la nuit (Hunters at the edge of night), oil on canvas 81 x 116 cm estimated £ 6M. It was the largest format used at that time by Magritte.
Two bulky men with boots and rifles are desperately clinging to a wall. On the right, the space is free to the horizon. Nothing explains why these men do not circumvent the edge of the wall excepted the hostile vacuum of this endless landscape.
It was assumed that the wall came suddenly for separating them from any logical reality, as the Pit and the Pendulum in Poe's short story. A hunter is a killer who does not have to attract sympathy but the attitude of these men is a masterpiece of the surrealist expression of anguish and a beautiful symbol of the impotence of humanity.
The artist plays with day and night. The angle of the shadow is from twilight but the blank light does not come from the sun which just set off at the opposite.
POST SALE COMMENT
The result, £ 6.6M including premium, is in line with the estimate.
1937 Portrait of a Young Patron
2018 SOLD for $ 27M including premium
Edward James is the son of an American railroad boss and of a supposed natural daughter of King Edward VII. He lives in England. He is a wealthy poet, and his interest in psychoanalysis is transformed into a passion for surrealist art.
In 1937 James is 30 years old. Dali introduces him to Magritte. Their connivance is immediate and perfect. Magritte proposes to make two surrealist portraits of his new patron.
Magritte sends a preparatory drawing to his model. He has chosen the theme of the portrait whose head is entirely replaced by a dazzling light. To make sure of James' enthusiasm, Magritte asks him to take care of the photographic preparation in the pose that matches the drawing. James has the picture taken by Man Ray.
On November 12 in New York, Sotheby's sells this portrait of James by Magritte, oil on canvas 73 x 55 cm painted in 1937, lot 35estimated $ 15M. Magritte has friendly chosen a Freudian title, Le Principe du Plaisir. The outline of the head is embedded in a halo that makes the image even more laudative.
The provenance testifies to the lasting success of this portrait. It belonged to James and then to his foundation until 1978 and remained in another collection since 1979.
The second portrait, also painted in 1937, is titled La Reproduction Interdite. It is another development of the theme of the visible and the hidden. James looks at himself in a large mirror in which his reflection is seen from behind.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
In 1937 James is 30 years old. Dali introduces him to Magritte. Their connivance is immediate and perfect. Magritte proposes to make two surrealist portraits of his new patron.
Magritte sends a preparatory drawing to his model. He has chosen the theme of the portrait whose head is entirely replaced by a dazzling light. To make sure of James' enthusiasm, Magritte asks him to take care of the photographic preparation in the pose that matches the drawing. James has the picture taken by Man Ray.
On November 12 in New York, Sotheby's sells this portrait of James by Magritte, oil on canvas 73 x 55 cm painted in 1937, lot 35estimated $ 15M. Magritte has friendly chosen a Freudian title, Le Principe du Plaisir. The outline of the head is embedded in a halo that makes the image even more laudative.
The provenance testifies to the lasting success of this portrait. It belonged to James and then to his foundation until 1978 and remained in another collection since 1979.
The second portrait, also painted in 1937, is titled La Reproduction Interdite. It is another development of the theme of the visible and the hidden. James looks at himself in a large mirror in which his reflection is seen from behind.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
1938 The Home of the Eagle
2017 SOLD for £ 10.2M including premium
I recently observed that the titles of René Magritte's artworks are the result of chance. Le Domaine d'Arnheim is a sensational counter-example.
The composition shows a large snowy mountain seen from a chalet. Everything is normal except that the horizon is centered on a bird's head whose details are zoomorphic. The surprise occasioned by this discovery leads the viewer to perceive the landscape as the extended wings of an eagle. In the foreground two beautiful eggs are placed on a low wall.
The artist has thus grouped two dualities which are among the permanent themes of his surreal world : the living and the rock form an impossible pair while egg to bird is somehow a metamorphosis similar as caterpillar to butterfly. From 1932 the artist placed eggs in bird cages.
The title also has a double meaning. Arnhem in the Netherlands has as its etymological origin 'the home of the eagle' from an Old German word. The Domain of Arnheim is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe in which a man with unlimited wealth remodels the landscape to make it more beautiful than what nature alone can do. This title chosen by Magritte is also an acknowledgment of Poe as a forerunner of Surrealism.
From 1938 to 1962 Magritte built his sublime landscape ten times, always with the same title : three paintings and seven gouaches. The original version, oil on canvas 73 x 100 cm, is estimated £ 6.5M for sale by Christie's in London on February 28, lot 112. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The composition shows a large snowy mountain seen from a chalet. Everything is normal except that the horizon is centered on a bird's head whose details are zoomorphic. The surprise occasioned by this discovery leads the viewer to perceive the landscape as the extended wings of an eagle. In the foreground two beautiful eggs are placed on a low wall.
The artist has thus grouped two dualities which are among the permanent themes of his surreal world : the living and the rock form an impossible pair while egg to bird is somehow a metamorphosis similar as caterpillar to butterfly. From 1932 the artist placed eggs in bird cages.
The title also has a double meaning. Arnhem in the Netherlands has as its etymological origin 'the home of the eagle' from an Old German word. The Domain of Arnheim is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe in which a man with unlimited wealth remodels the landscape to make it more beautiful than what nature alone can do. This title chosen by Magritte is also an acknowledgment of Poe as a forerunner of Surrealism.
From 1938 to 1962 Magritte built his sublime landscape ten times, always with the same title : three paintings and seven gouaches. The original version, oil on canvas 73 x 100 cm, is estimated £ 6.5M for sale by Christie's in London on February 28, lot 112. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
1941 Magritte in the Magnet of Love
2011 SOLD 4.75 M£ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
This is a painting by Magritte, just as the public loves them. The line is simple and well done, the colors are bright and vivid. A naked woman is standing, front view, leaning lightly on a rock. Behind her, a heavy red curtain.
It's a Magritte. So do not leave too early your viewing. Indeed, the shadow of the woman is replaced by her exact shapes in the folds of the curtain. The scene that seemed so natural immediately becomes strange.
The title in French, "l'Aimant", invites for an ambiguous comparison between romantic and magnetic attractions. I checked in my dictionary: the two etymologies of the word are entirely independent. Magritte, as a worthy contemporary of Duchamp, has used the double meaning meaning with a perfect subtlety.
The artwork was done in 1941, confirmed by two letters in which the artist gave some descriptive explanations. It is estimated £ 3.5 million, for sale by Christie's in London on February 9.
We wait for the auction catalog to know its exact dimensions, but we can already get an idea by opening the Reuters news shared by Artdaily. Magritte would have loved this photograph. An employee of Christie's who observes the painting is in the shadow, in total oppsition with the sun light on the naked body.
POST SALE COMMENT
Very good result for this outstanding work by Magritte: £ 4.75 million including premium.
Here are its dimensions, as promised: 130 x 90 cm.
This is a painting by Magritte, just as the public loves them. The line is simple and well done, the colors are bright and vivid. A naked woman is standing, front view, leaning lightly on a rock. Behind her, a heavy red curtain.
It's a Magritte. So do not leave too early your viewing. Indeed, the shadow of the woman is replaced by her exact shapes in the folds of the curtain. The scene that seemed so natural immediately becomes strange.
The title in French, "l'Aimant", invites for an ambiguous comparison between romantic and magnetic attractions. I checked in my dictionary: the two etymologies of the word are entirely independent. Magritte, as a worthy contemporary of Duchamp, has used the double meaning meaning with a perfect subtlety.
The artwork was done in 1941, confirmed by two letters in which the artist gave some descriptive explanations. It is estimated £ 3.5 million, for sale by Christie's in London on February 9.
We wait for the auction catalog to know its exact dimensions, but we can already get an idea by opening the Reuters news shared by Artdaily. Magritte would have loved this photograph. An employee of Christie's who observes the painting is in the shadow, in total oppsition with the sun light on the naked body.
POST SALE COMMENT
Very good result for this outstanding work by Magritte: £ 4.75 million including premium.
Here are its dimensions, as promised: 130 x 90 cm.
1942 A Bunch of Owls
2018 SOLD for £ 4.7M including premium
Les compagnons de la peur, oil on canvas 71 x 93 cm painted by Magritte in 1942 during the German occupation of Belgium, was sold for £ 4.1M including premium by Christie's in Londonon February 4, 2015, lot 117. It is now estimated £ 3.5M for sale in the same auction room on June 20, lot 12.
Times are hard for everybody in Europe in 1942. Magritte is deeply questioning his own art, soon to enter a new phase of mocking Impressionism and Fauvism. Les compagnons de la peur is a singular painting based of Magritte's classical style of the artist but with a very rare political message supported by its title.
I discussed it as follows before the 2015 sale.
In front of a mountain scenery, a group of five owls occupies a dominant position from where they scan their environment with the severity of Gestapo. The arid mountain and the heavy sky increase the anxiety. In Magritte's usual rendering of the contraries the night birds look well awake in day light.
The power of these birds is an illusion. They are not birds but leaf-bird hybrids planted in their eagle's nest from where they will never take flight. The harm suggested by their uncompromising attitude will not be enforced. Some young leaves are nevertheless ready for their metamorphosis.
The leaf-bird is thus the opposite of Miro's free bird. It is following the mineral-human hybrids with which Magritte was already questioning the deep nature of beings.
Times are hard for everybody in Europe in 1942. Magritte is deeply questioning his own art, soon to enter a new phase of mocking Impressionism and Fauvism. Les compagnons de la peur is a singular painting based of Magritte's classical style of the artist but with a very rare political message supported by its title.
I discussed it as follows before the 2015 sale.
In front of a mountain scenery, a group of five owls occupies a dominant position from where they scan their environment with the severity of Gestapo. The arid mountain and the heavy sky increase the anxiety. In Magritte's usual rendering of the contraries the night birds look well awake in day light.
The power of these birds is an illusion. They are not birds but leaf-bird hybrids planted in their eagle's nest from where they will never take flight. The harm suggested by their uncompromising attitude will not be enforced. Some young leaves are nevertheless ready for their metamorphosis.
The leaf-bird is thus the opposite of Miro's free bird. It is following the mineral-human hybrids with which Magritte was already questioning the deep nature of beings.
1949 Blue Sky by Night
2017 SOLD for $ 20.6M including premium
Surrealism is most often requiring an uneasy decoding. When practiced by René Magritte, it sometimes disturbs the viewer by the very simplicity of the message. La Trahison des Images painted in 1929 became the symbol of that language which is both offbeat and poetic.
With its title designed by Paul Nougé, L'Empire des lumières reached a similar notoriety. The theme is commonplace : a night view of a suburb inspired by the Brussels district where Magritte resides.
The inhabitants are not visible but we imagine them behind the lighted windows. A lamppost illuminates the street with a questionable effectiveness. Beside these few glows the shadows are saturated. No contradiction of scale comes to puzzle the viewer.
Above this peaceful night the sky is blue, dotted with white clouds. The artist asks a poetic question for which he knows that there is no answer : are day and night incompatible or are they two complementary elements of real life?
The first variant of the Empire des lumières was completed in 1949. This oil on canvas 49 x 59 cm is estimated $ 14M for sale by Christie's in New York on November 13, lot 12 A.
The friends of the artist are enthusiastic and Magritte makes many variants on order over the years. An Empire des lumières 100 x 80 cm painted in 1952 was sold for $ 11.5 million by Christie's on May 7, 2002.
Nobody dared questioning if the Empire des lumières was not just a clumsy twilight. Magritte himself brings a disturbing continuation much later with La Fin du monde. Over the same place the sky has become black and in a better logic the horizon is still bright. The signature head with the bowler hat appears as a threat amidst the black silhouettes of the trees. This oil on canvas 82 x 100 cm painted in 1963 was sold for $ 7M including premium by Christie's on November 1, 2011.
With its title designed by Paul Nougé, L'Empire des lumières reached a similar notoriety. The theme is commonplace : a night view of a suburb inspired by the Brussels district where Magritte resides.
The inhabitants are not visible but we imagine them behind the lighted windows. A lamppost illuminates the street with a questionable effectiveness. Beside these few glows the shadows are saturated. No contradiction of scale comes to puzzle the viewer.
Above this peaceful night the sky is blue, dotted with white clouds. The artist asks a poetic question for which he knows that there is no answer : are day and night incompatible or are they two complementary elements of real life?
The first variant of the Empire des lumières was completed in 1949. This oil on canvas 49 x 59 cm is estimated $ 14M for sale by Christie's in New York on November 13, lot 12 A.
The friends of the artist are enthusiastic and Magritte makes many variants on order over the years. An Empire des lumières 100 x 80 cm painted in 1952 was sold for $ 11.5 million by Christie's on May 7, 2002.
Nobody dared questioning if the Empire des lumières was not just a clumsy twilight. Magritte himself brings a disturbing continuation much later with La Fin du monde. Over the same place the sky has become black and in a better logic the horizon is still bright. The signature head with the bowler hat appears as a threat amidst the black silhouettes of the trees. This oil on canvas 82 x 100 cm painted in 1963 was sold for $ 7M including premium by Christie's on November 1, 2011.
1952 L'Empire des Lumières by Magritte
2002 SOLD for $ 11.5M by Christie's
1956 Deceptively Simple
2017 SOLD for $ 13.6M including premium
René Magritte plays with day and night and their transitions, dawn and twilight. Acclaimed as a masterpiece of surrealism, L'Empire des Lumières conceived in 1949 has no fantastic elements. The career of Magritte is launched since the previous year by his contract with Iolas and this supreme subtlety escapes the art critics.
Magritte is also playing with Sun and Moon. By ignoring the third dimension, the crescent moon appears as posed on the character's hat. One of the simplest variants is titled Le Maître d'Ecole. A small gouache 33 x 25 cm made in 1955 was sold for $ 6.8M including premium by Sotheby's on November 5, 2015 over a lower estimate of $ 3M.
In 1956 the artist has a new find, a "trouvaille" in his own words. Why are Moon and Sun always in the background at the risk of being hidden by the landscape ?
Le Banquet shows a common wood edge in front of the redness of sunset. The bright red Sun of great sharpness is at the exact center of the picture ahead of the big tree. In the same year the Moon performs a similar feat in Le Seize Septembre.
One of the earliest examples of Le Banquet, painted in 1956 or perhaps in 1957, oil on canvas 75 x 121 cm, was sold for $ 6.8 million including premium by Christie's on May 9, 2007. It is estimated $ 12M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 14, lot 36.
Magritte is also playing with Sun and Moon. By ignoring the third dimension, the crescent moon appears as posed on the character's hat. One of the simplest variants is titled Le Maître d'Ecole. A small gouache 33 x 25 cm made in 1955 was sold for $ 6.8M including premium by Sotheby's on November 5, 2015 over a lower estimate of $ 3M.
In 1956 the artist has a new find, a "trouvaille" in his own words. Why are Moon and Sun always in the background at the risk of being hidden by the landscape ?
Le Banquet shows a common wood edge in front of the redness of sunset. The bright red Sun of great sharpness is at the exact center of the picture ahead of the big tree. In the same year the Moon performs a similar feat in Le Seize Septembre.
One of the earliest examples of Le Banquet, painted in 1956 or perhaps in 1957, oil on canvas 75 x 121 cm, was sold for $ 6.8 million including premium by Christie's on May 9, 2007. It is estimated $ 12M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 14, lot 36.
1960 The Mystery of the Opposites
2017 SOLD for £ 14.4M including premium
In his deeply original way René Magritte is the less hermetic of the surrealists. His art is nothing more than lines and colors. His exegetes are far more complicated than himself. His themes disconcert by the incongruous mingling of the opposites : day and night, flesh and rock, animal and vegetable, or an object that floats freely in the sky.
In 1960, Magritte is looking for new themes involving the four primordial substances : water, air, earth, fire. The cloud, which is altogether immaterial and opaque, perpetually malleable, is a major figure of his Olympus.
On February 28 in London, Christie's sells La Corde sensible, oil on canvas 114 x 146 cm which is a large size for this artist, lot 110 estimated £ 14M. Let us remind that the title of a work by Magritte is always a result of chance without a meaningful connection with the image.
The well-centered cloud is at its normal position in the sky above a landscape. It appears as laying and slightly entering into a monumental crystal coupe.
The mystery is multiple : Is the glass empty or full ? Is the cloud the cream of a cocktail ? What Gulliver will approach his lips onto this impossible vapor ? What is the true distance to the glass ? What is the reality of the landscape? What is the reality of our own world ? By its absence of animal or human being, La Corde sensible provides no mark.
In 1960, Magritte is looking for new themes involving the four primordial substances : water, air, earth, fire. The cloud, which is altogether immaterial and opaque, perpetually malleable, is a major figure of his Olympus.
On February 28 in London, Christie's sells La Corde sensible, oil on canvas 114 x 146 cm which is a large size for this artist, lot 110 estimated £ 14M. Let us remind that the title of a work by Magritte is always a result of chance without a meaningful connection with the image.
The well-centered cloud is at its normal position in the sky above a landscape. It appears as laying and slightly entering into a monumental crystal coupe.
The mystery is multiple : Is the glass empty or full ? Is the cloud the cream of a cocktail ? What Gulliver will approach his lips onto this impossible vapor ? What is the true distance to the glass ? What is the reality of the landscape? What is the reality of our own world ? By its absence of animal or human being, La Corde sensible provides no mark.
1962 This is not a Beautiful World
2014 SOLD 7.9 M£ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
The message of the Surrealists is hermetic. Even when the interpretation of a work is unique for the artist, it is not always understood by the observer.
Magritte provides fun, and he enjoys providing it. In the early 1960s, he is prolific, endlessly rearranging the elements of his artistic vocabulary. His parallel universes are dominated by a cheerful blue sky.
On February 5 in London, Sotheby's sells Le Beau Monde, oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm painted in 1962, estimated £ 4M. Other works of the same period received the same title.
In 1929, his Treachery of Images created a doubt between what is and what is not a pipe. Le Beau Monde may enable a similar reading.
On a fully neutral base, two curtains and a mirror stand up into his usual beautiful cloudy sky. The mirror is fragmentary, separating the sky into two disjoint areas. The curtains are interrupted like the broken columns in an atheist cemetery. The apple does not comfort us, it is only a signature.
The proposed interpretation by the auction house is different.
Magritte was a great Surrealist because his message eludes us.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's.
POST SALE COMMENT
This good example from the creativity of Magritte at the end of his career was sold for £ 7.9 million including premium.
The message of the Surrealists is hermetic. Even when the interpretation of a work is unique for the artist, it is not always understood by the observer.
Magritte provides fun, and he enjoys providing it. In the early 1960s, he is prolific, endlessly rearranging the elements of his artistic vocabulary. His parallel universes are dominated by a cheerful blue sky.
On February 5 in London, Sotheby's sells Le Beau Monde, oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm painted in 1962, estimated £ 4M. Other works of the same period received the same title.
In 1929, his Treachery of Images created a doubt between what is and what is not a pipe. Le Beau Monde may enable a similar reading.
On a fully neutral base, two curtains and a mirror stand up into his usual beautiful cloudy sky. The mirror is fragmentary, separating the sky into two disjoint areas. The curtains are interrupted like the broken columns in an atheist cemetery. The apple does not comfort us, it is only a signature.
The proposed interpretation by the auction house is different.
Magritte was a great Surrealist because his message eludes us.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's.
POST SALE COMMENT
This good example from the creativity of Magritte at the end of his career was sold for £ 7.9 million including premium.
