René Magritte

Belgian surrealist artist, 1898-1967

Magritte became well known for a number of witty and thought-provoking images that fall under the umbrella of surrealism. His work is known for challenging observers’ preconditioned perceptions of reality. The Magritte Museum opened to the public on 30 May 2009 in Brussels. Housed in the five-level neo-classical Hotel Altenloh, on the Place Royale, it displays some 200 original Magritte paintings, drawings and sculptures. His work was exhibited in the United States in New York in 1936 and again in that city in two retrospective exhibitions, one at the Museum of Modern Art in 1965, and the other at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1992.

Source: Wikipedia

Magritte, René

Belgian surrealist artist (1898-1967). Le Problème du Fantôme. Sketchbook containing 49 sketches for an unpainted work. [Brussels. Sketchbook with 49 drawings, 6 are signed, one is dated "13 August 1946"; (5 1/2 x 4 1/8 in.; 140 x 105 mm); pencil or ink; the sketchbook is titled on the cover "Le Problème du Fantôme.".
$ 302,848 / 280.000 € (49629)

Insight into Magritte's creative process. The sketchbook, used probably during the war, shows studies for several Magritte paintings made between 1941 and 1948: The Meteor (Sylvester, II, 559), The Civilizer (Sylvester, II, 574), The Tempest (Sylvester, II, 576) or Pure Reason (Sylvester, II, 659). - It presents also a remarkable series of studies of iconic Magritte references as hair, women, landscapes or leaves that resemble birds, used for different paintings such as Knowledge of the Natural (Sylvester, II, 488), Daily Bread (Sylvester, II, 497), The Rape (Sylvester, II, 580) or The Fire (Sylvester, II, 599). Others studies are traditional representations of ghosts (a large white sheet) in a Magrittian way (with a smiling face, with woman, a leaf, a ship, a balloon or a drop in the middle of the shadow) for a work he probably never painted.

The "Ghost Problem" of the title remains unresolved. Provenance: Suzi Gablik..

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Magritte, René

Belgian surrealist artist (1898-1967). Autograph letter signed ("Rene et Georgette") and illustrated with one original drawing. Bruxelles. 4to. 2 pp. On "René Magritte, 97 rue des Mimosas..." heading.
$ 62,733 / 58.000 € (49630)

Addressed to his „Chere amie“ [Suzi Gablik] talking about how he never takes a vacation, about his exhibitions in Knokke (Belgium) and Minneapolis and complaining about a car which he only had for four days before discharging it again. In the end, he adds a sketch for a new painting: „Chère amie, Merci pour votre carte de vacances. Moi, je n’arrive pas à « prendre » des vacances on dirait que je suis condamné aux travaux forcés à perpétuité. Et pourtant vous savez combien je suis fatigué.

Mon exposition à Knokke a du « succès », mais si j’en juge par les critiques idiotes publiées dans les journaux, les visiteurs qui ne sont pas (sauf exceptions) plus malins que les « critiques d’art » doivent être ahuris en regardant mes tableaux. Le catalogue de Minnéapolis est réussi, en effet. C’est bien pour moi et pour vous aussi : pourrez vous voir cette exposition ? H. T. vous dira sans doute que j’ai essayé de l’automobile : J’ai acheté une voiture Lancia Flavia et après quatre jours d’expérience j’en ai été dégoûté. Je la revends donc content d’en être débarrassé. Ci-après le croquis d’une nouvelle peinture : [followed by a sketch]. Bien affectueusement à vous, René et Georgette“ Provenance: Suzi Gablik..

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Magritte, René

belgischer Maler des Surrealismus (1898-1967). Eigenh. Brief mit Unterschrift. Brüssel. 8vo. 1 p. Mit Briefkopf.
$ 2,704 / 2.500 € (81784)

Hübscher Brief mit Briefkopf mit der Adresse, René Magritte, 97 rue des Mimosas Bruxelles III, dem heutigen Magritte Museum. Es geht dabei um die laufende Ausstellung im Musée d’Ixelles. Magritte äußert sich, dass „l’exposition actuelle au Musée d’Ixelles ne montrant que des tableaux peints entre 1926 et ces derniers temps […]“. Also, dass bei der Ausstellung nur Gemälde aus der Zeit zwischen 1926 und „aus der letzten Zeit“ gezeigt würden. Beiliegend ein ms. Gegenbrief (23.

April 1959) an Magritte, unterzeichnet von Remy, das über den Kurator am Ixelles Museum weitergeleitet wurde. „Mon Cher Remy | Je vous remercie de votre lettre et de votre offre d’expose un ancien tableau de moi. Ce sera si vous le voulez bien pour une autre occasion ; l’exposition actuelle au Musée d’Ixelles ne montrant que des tableaux peints entre 1926 et ces derniers temps. Si je passe un jour par La Panne, j’irai vous dire bonjour et reverrai avec plaisir ce tableau dont je n’ai plus aucun souvenir ? Bien cordialement à vous. René Magritte“ Bemerkenswerter Brief, in dem Magritte das Leihangebot eines Gemäldes dankend ablehnt. Das Gemälde mit dem Titel „Paysage“ (Landschaft) hatte er dem Architekten Remy 1922 überlassen. Da dieses Gemälde für die Retrospektive zu alt ist, lehnt Magritte den Vorschlag ab, es dort auszustellen. Er äußert aber den Wunsch, das Bild wieder sehen zu wollen, weil er sich nicht mehr daran erinnert. Der Adressat Remy lebte in De Panne, dem südlichsten Badeort an der belgischen Küste. Dort verbrachte Magritte seine Urlaube. Das Bild, über das sich Magritte mit Remy austauscht, muss vor der Zeit entstanden sein, ab der er - inspiriert von der pittura metafisica (metaphysisiche Malerei) eines Giorigio de Chirico beeinflusst - in den Surrealismus eintauchte. Erst ab 1926 war es ihm durch feste Verträge mit der Brüssler Galerie „Le Centaure“ möglich, sich ausschließlich auf die künstlerische Produktion zu konzentrieren, wobei mit „Der verlorene Jockey“ 1926 sein erstes surrealistisches Bild entstand..

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Magritte, René

Belgian surrealist artist (1898-1967). Original drawing on autograph postcard signed ("Georgette et René Magritte"). N. p. 148:112 mm.
$ 13,520 / 12.500 € (47179/BN31923)

A New Year's greeting, showing a tree and some leaves, executed in black and green colour.

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Magritte, René

belgischer Maler (1898-1967). Autograph postcard, signed and illustrated. [Brüssel. 1 S. 8vo. Beiliegend Schwarzweißphotographie.
$ 20,010 / 18.500 € (59651/BN43370)

To the Belgian writer Marcel Lecomte, apologizing for being indisposed: "Mon cher ami, J'ai été empêché au dernier moment. Veuillé bien me faire signe dés que tu seras de retour. Je suppose que ceci te ressemblera un peu à ce moment: [drawing]. A bientôt et amitiés / Magritte". - Magritte's illustration shows Lecomte walking backwards upon arriving at the Brussels Gare du Midi with his books. A similar motif is seen in the enclosed photograph. - Reproduced on the dust jacket of Lecomte's "Poésies complètes" (Paris, La Difference, 2009). Provenance: from the collection of the painter Lou Gérardy (half-sister of the novelist Béatrix Beck), the poet's lover.

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Magritte, René

Belgian surrealist artist (1898-1967). Autograph letter signed with 2 original sketches. Nice. 24.06.1961. 8vo. 2 pp. on bifolium. The sketches: 42 x 58 mm and 35 x 51 mm in ballpoint.
$ 16,224 / 15.000 € (82595/BN53777)

Charming letter in French, probably to his Athens-based art dealer Alexander Iolas, who had bought the painting "The Dress of Galatea" that is mentioned in the letter. After announcing his safe arrival in Nice together with his wife Georgette Berger and their dog Loulou and thanking the recipient for his hospitality, Magritte suggests the now-official title of the nude painting. He jokingly reasons that "archeologists will have something to 'reflect' upon and you will have, I believe, the same pleasure as I do to know how Galatea could dress".

In the second part of the letter, Magritte makes two architectural suggestions with sketches for the building project of a mutual friend, Castellanos. The first idea is to have "somewhere in the facade a crooked window (the rest being perfectly straight)". Secondly, Magritte suggests to add an unreachable door to the facade while concealing the actual entrance on the side. - Although surrealist architecture abounds in Magritte's paintings, there is no record of any actual building projects. Facetiously though the letter is written, Magritte would certainly have enjoyed seeing his ideas realized. - The text in full: "Nous sommes bien 'rentrés' à Nice, Georgette, Loulou et moi, en gardant le délicieux plaisir de votre accueil et du milieu splendide où vous vivez. C'est mieux qu'un rêve, heureusement... Mais je vous écris pour vous remercier mais aussi pour vous demander d'ajouter un mot au titre 'Galatée': en renvoyant le tableau nonvie ainsi par nous, j'ai pensé que le titre pourrait être: 'La Robe de Galatée' - De cette manière, d'éventuels archéologues auront de quoi 'réflechir' et vous avez, je crois, le même plaisir que moi à savoir comment Galatée pouvait s'habiller. En repensant aux possibilités architecturales que l'architecte de Castellanos ne se fait pas faute de prodiguer avec un rare bonheur, j'aimerais - si cela 'va' - que vous lui en suggeriez une, (que si je faisais bâtir, je vourdrais voir réaliser). Il s'agit de quelque chose de très simple (et qui étonnerait les entrepreneurs qui commencent pourtant à en avoir l'habitude): quelque part dans la façade, une fenêtre travers (tout le reste etant bien d'aplomb) - Dans cette ordre d'idée, il y a aussi dans une façade une porte ('en soi', non utilisable non 'pragmatique') - la porte pratique étant sur le côté - Je vous rappelle mon adresse à Bruxelles: 97 rue des mimosas [...]". - Traces of folds and minor tears..

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Magritte, René

Belgian surrealist artist (1898-1967). 5 autograph letters signed (2 "René Magritte" and 3 "RM") with two sketches. Brussels and n. p. 8vo. 6 ½ pp. on 10 ff. Sketches: ca. 22 x 25 mm and 20 x 35 mm in black ballpoint pen. In French.
$ 30,285 / 28.000 € (82596/BN53778)

Highly interesting correspondence with his friend, the Belgian librarian and writer André Bormans, touching upon various subjects, especially semiotics and the theory of art. In the earliest letter, Magritte invites Bormans for the Christmas holidays and announces that he will show him his latest unfinished paintings: "Particularly: La Joconde, L'Enfance d'Icare and La Colère des Dieux that you will, I believe, enjoy to get to know" (17 Nov. 1960). In closing, Magritte asks whether Bormans can obtain for him Upton Sinclair's 1931 novel "The Wet Parade", which deals with the social effects of alcoholism and prohibition, from the communal library.

- Another letter, from 22 October 1963, contains profound semiotic reflections on the relationship between image and word and the effects of the "unification" of word and image. Magritte refers to his famous text-image combinations entitled "Les Mots et les Images" from the last issue of "Révolution Surréaliste" published in 1929, underlining that he now believes that it is more accurate to say that word and image are united rather than re-united: "Depuis, c'est 'unir' qui me semble juste. Réunir obligerait de croire que les choses après avoir été 'unies' ne le seraient plus, qu'elles auraient été désunies. En somme croire à quelque chose d'indifférent". He then gives specific examples from his work such as "La Cascade" and "L'Empire des Lumières", arguing that what the painting "presupposes is partly to be defined". The pictorial representation thus "challenges thinking to be able to think (unite)", which he calls a "contraction", in the case of "L'Empire des Lumières" that of "night and day". To underline the mutual exclusion whose terms are still interdependent, Magritte quotes the Belgian surrealist writer Marcel Lecomte: "The absence of a footstep materializes". Even more dear to him is Louis Scutenaire's statement: "When I exhale I commit a crime". Inspired by his friend's semantic dramatization of something as banal and automatic as exhalation, Magritte exclaims: "What I have painted 'suffices' - What he has written 'suffices' - But not painting and not saying anything also 'suffices'. Your 'The dream requires genius' suffices as 'expression' (expression in the sense of writing, the words not saying what they designate - like in La Cascade, the images not showing what they are)". Magritte closes with the announcement of the title for a painting contributed by Scutenaire: "For a new painting (trees-orange foliage) Scut found a beautiful title: 'The princes of autumn' (which is a beginning of a precious 'commentary')". This section is accompanied by a charming little sketch of the painting. - Just a week later Magritte sends a short letter in which he corrects statements from a previous missive not part of the collection. Magritte writes that he did not express himself well when he was discussing Pierre Étaix's 1962 romantic comedy "The Suitor" and tries to characterize the humor exemplified by this film, referring to a specific scene. He also mentions Charles Muselet's 1866 collection of biographies "Portraits après déces" and a magazine, probably of a Christian cult, that he has been handed in the streets. Finally, Magritte announces that he will send Bormans a photograph of his close friend, the publisher and fellow surrealist E. T. L. Mesens (1903-71). - The latest dated letter, from 18 July 1965, is rather short but includes a charming sketch of Magritte's painting "Le Pan de Nuit" ("The patch of night"), showing a disembodied patch of long red hair in a bowler hat from behind: "The painting on which I am currently working, awaiting its title". He also reports his recovery from an illness, announces two photographs of new paintings ("Le Char de la Vierge" and "Parmi les Bosquets légers"), and recommends Proust's "Contre Saint-Beuve". - Magritte's undated letter offers recommendations for changes to a text that Bormans has written for an exhibition catalogue: "A proposition: 'to enrich our humble means in making the world known' occasions me to ask for a small change that protects the reader from contenting himself with the belief that the 'means' are to be enriched, to be perfected and that knowledge is of secondary importance. This possible misunderstanding could perhaps be avoided in saying: 'to aid our humble knowledge of the world'. The advantage of this phrasing also allows to counter the glorification of the 'means' [...]". The explanation for his final suggestion makes Magritte's anti-positivist stance even more explicit, as he jokes: "or another modification that does not jeopardize 'the subjectivity' that is dear to the experts of 'objectivity'!". - Four of the five letters on stationery with printed letterhead. Well preserved..

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