René Magritte

Hanover Gallery, London (by the 1950s)

Robert Elkon, New York (acquired from the above in 1958)

Private Collection, Belgium

Sale: Christie's, London, June 30, 1992, lot 171)

Private Collection (acquired at the above sale)

(possibly) The Hague, Huize Esher Surrey, René Magritte, 1936, no. 23 

David Sylvester, Sarah Whitfield & Michael Raeburn, René Magritte, Catalogue raisonné, vol. IV, London, 1994, no. 1119a, illustrated

Very good condition. The paper is loose and not hinged. Some very slight discoloration which is due to ageing and UV exposure. A few spots if foxing is visible on the lower left of the composition. Also a residue of an old retouching and slight divot in the paper on the top right corner near the signature, which can be visible on the verso. Otherwise the pigments are rich and stable and the work is in good 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.

Painted in 1936, La Géante is one of Magritte’s most vibrant variations on the theme of a leaf tree. The artist’s use of the leaf tree image first appeared in the 1935 oil titled La géante, and would reoccur in his painting over the next several decades. In a letter to André Breton of July 1934, in which he wrote about paintings he was developing as ‘solutions’ to various ‘problems’, Magritte commented about the problem of the tree: ‘I am trying at the moment to discover what it is in a tree that belongs to it specifically but which would run counter to our concept of a tree’ (quoted in D. Sylvester (ed.) & S. Whitfield, op. cit., p. 194). He soon found the answer to this question in the image of the tree-leaf: ‘the tree, as the subject of a problem, became a large leaf the stem of which was a trunk directly planted in the ground’.

Jacques Meuris wrote about the leaf image in Magritte’s painting: "Nature, as Magritte saw it, was an element with the same characteristics, mutatis mutandis, as those with which he invested every object, everything. There was no “naturalist” tendency in his work, no ecological impulse, not even a poetic transformation of the natural. Nevertheless, these leaves, alone or in groups, clad or bare, occasionally nibbled by insects, may be regarded as “individuals”, invested with multifarious feelings, endowed with charms in the various senses of the word" (J. Meuris, René Magritte, London, 1988, p. 154). Indeed in a number of compositions, the image of a man, woman, an over-sized boulder or apple would replace the leaf in front of the stone wall, as the artist experimented with the various ‘characters’ featuring in his mysterious compositions.

In the present work, a sense of mystery and ambiguity is created by placing the oversized leaf tree against a quiet, unidentifiable landscape with a path extending into the background. By changing the context in which we are used to seeing these images, Magritte challenges our ideas of the visible world and of the nature of art itself. The stone ledge or wall along the left hand side of the composition and the crimson curtain in the background to the right, act as repoussoirs, reversing the interior and exterior of the work while challenging the viewer’s perception of the real and the represented, of the hidden and the revealed. The large stone wall further enhances the dichotomy between the natural and the man-made. Notwithstanding the subversive nature of Magritte’s perplexing, surrealist composition, the image of the leaf tree in front of the stone ledge, the smaller tree and curtain framing the ambiguous path, is also one of great beauty.