René Magritte

Julien Levy, New York (acquired from the artist in 1936)

Notizie Arte Contemporanea, Turin

Galleria Levi, Milan & Rome

Sale: Christie's, New York, November 15, 1989, lot 456

Galerie Isy Brachot, Brussels & Paris (acquired at the above sale)

Acquired from the above in 1990

New York, Julien Levy, René Magritte, 1936, no. 17

New York, Byron Gallery, Magritte, 1968, no. 7, illustrated in the catalogue

Tokyo, Tokyo Art Expo, 1990, no. B 453

Tokyo, Fukuoka Art Museum, René Magritte, 1995

Tokyo, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Surrealism & Art- Image & Reality, 2007

"Letter from Magritte to Paul Eluard, December 1925", in Moie, 1980, pp. 75-76

David Sylvester, Sarah Whitfield & Michael Raeburn, René Magritte, Catalogue Raisonné, Oil Paintings and Objects 1931-1948, vol. II, London, 1993, no. 372, illustrated p. 200

Siegfried Gohr, Magritte, Das Unmögliche versuchen, Cologne, 2008, illustrated in color

The canvas is un-lined. The tacking edges have been reinforced to allowe for proper stretching. Within the paint layer proper there are no restorations and the condition is clearly wonderful. Around the extreme edges there are restorations addressing some frame abrasion and slight alteration of the width and height of the painting, most likely by the artist. The painting should be hung as is. The above condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's.
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.

The painting within a painting was one of Magritte's most engaging illusionistic themes.  Calling to question the nature of reality and the illusion of art, this finely detailed canvas from 1935 belongs to a series of pictures all titled La Condition humaine.  Magritte provided the following explanation of the image:  "La condition humaine was the solution to the problem of the window.  I placed in front of a window seen from inside a room, a painting representing exactly that part of the landscape which was hidden from view by the painting.... Which is how we see the world:  we see it as being outside ourselves even though it is only a mental representation of it that we experience inside ourselves.  In the same way, we sometimes situate in the past a thing which is happening in the present.  Time and space thus lose their crude meaning, which is the only one they have in everyday experience" (quoted in Magritte (exhibition catalogue), Sarah Whitfield, The South Bank Centre, London, 1992, no. 62).

 

In 1936, this canvas was exhibited at the first solo show of Magritte's work in the United States.  At that exhibition at Julien Levy's gallery in New York, this picture hung alongside other small replicas or variations of earlier images, all painted in 1935.  The present picture is one of the five paintings purchased by Levy himself at that exhibition.