René Magritte

Harry Torczyner, New York (acquired from the artist in 1958)

Marlborough Fine Art, London

Daniel Malingue, Paris

Sale: Christie's, London, December 2, 1975, lot 89

Galerie Melki, Paris

Private Collection (sold: Sotheby's, London, June 30, 1987, lot 74)

Waddington Galleries, London (acquired at the above sale)

Private Collection, Los Angeles (by 1992)

Minneapolis, Walker Art Museum, René Magritte, 1962, no. 37

London, The Hayward Gallery, The South Bank Centre; New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Houston, The Menil Collection; The Art Institute of Chicago, Magritte, 1992-93, no. 110

Brussels, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, René Magritte, 1998, no. 176

Basel, Fondation Beyeler, René Magritte, The Key to Dreams, 2005, no. 76

Patrick Waldberg, René Magritte, Brussels, 1965, illustrated p. 211 (catalogued with incorrect measurements)

René Passeron, René Magritte, Paris, 1970, illustrated p. 53 (catalogued with incorrect measurements)

Harry Torczyner, Magritte, Ideas and Images, New York, 1977, no. 227, illustrated p. 125 (catalogued with incorrect measurements)

José Pierre, Magritte, Paris, 1965, illustrated p. 98 (catalogued with incorrect measurements)

David Sylvester, Magritte, The Silence of the World, New York, 1992, illustrated p. 280

David Sylvester, Sarah Whitfield and Michael Raeburn, René Magritte, Catalogue Raisonné, vol. III, London, 1993, no. 784, illustrated p. 203

Excellent condition. Original canvas. Under ultra-violet light, there are no signs of retouching; the paint surface floresces in areas, due to the artist's own modulated application of paint. The stretcher bars are very faintly visible on the surface, but the paint layer is stable and in beautiful condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

L'Explication is one of four related compositions that Magritte painted in the early 1950s.  All four paintings, all with the same title, feature a still-life of a bottle, a carrot, and a hybrid bottle-carrot -- a perfect Surrealist ensemble.  The composition visualizes Magritte's belief in "elective affinities," or the fact that our basic understanding of the world is reliant upon seeing connections or "links in a chain" among all objects.  Because the present image perfectly explains that theory, he valued these compositions accordingly.  Another working title for this series, suggested by Magritte's friend Nougé, was Un discours de la méthode or Discourse on method, which is yet another reference to the work's didactic usefulness.

Magritte had been developing the idea behind L'Explication since the 1930s, when he first began to consider the "problem" of individual objects and their relation to other objects, images and ideas. After Magritte painted the first version of L'Explication (Sylvester no. 764; Museu de Arte Moderna in Rio de Janeiro, now destroyed), his dealer Alexander Iolas commissioned two variant compositions -- one that is nearly identical to the first (Sylvester no. 783; see fig. 4) and another in a much larger format and with a different background (Sylvester no. 784).   The present work was painted after he finished these two, and depicts the objects before a landscape rather than on a table, as they were seen in the previous paintings.   According to Sarah Whitfield, the present work  "is one of a number of works which seem to the writer to bear out Magritte's claim that a later version of an image often enriched the first.  It remained in his possession until he gave it away in 1958, which suggests that it was a version he made either for himself or, as is more likely, for Georgette" (Sarah Whitfield, Magritte (exhibition catalogue), The Hayward Gallery, London, 1992, opposite pl. 110).  In 1962, Magritte created another variant of this composition in gouache

David Sylvester noted when this work was sold at Sotheby's in 1987 that is was historically catalogued with incorrect measurements because its size was mistaken with no. 783.