René Magritte (1898-1967)
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René Magritte (1898-1967)

Le prince charmant

细节
René Magritte (1898-1967)
Le prince charmant
signed 'Magritte' (upper left); signed again, titled and dated '"Le Prince charmant" Magritte 1948' (on the reverse)
gouache on paper
14 5/8 x 18¼ in. (37 x 46.3 cm.)
Executed in 1947 or 1948
来源
Serge Vandercam, Belgium, a gift from the artist circa 1952.
Anonymous sale, Sotheby's, London, 5 December 1984, lot 375.
Private collection, Brussels, by whom acquired at the above sale.
Private collection, Belgium, by whom acquired in 2002; sale, Christie's, London, 9 February 2011, lot 130.
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner.
出版
Letter from R. Magritte to A. Iolas, 23 February 1948.
Letter from R. Magritte to A. Iolas, 11 March 1948.
R. Magritte & A. Blavier (ed.), Ecrits complets, Paris, 1979.
Statement of account from Magritte to Iolas, 8 August 1949.
D. Sylvester, ed., S. Whitfield & M. Raeburn, René Magritte, Catalogue raisonné, vol. IV, Gouaches, Temperas, Watercolours and Papiers Collés 1918-1967, London, 1994, no. 1250, p. 97 (illustrated).
R. Hughes, The Portable Magritte, New York, 2001, p. 435 (illustrated p. 264).
Paris, Musé Maillol, Magritte tout en papier: collages, dessins, gouaches, March - June 2006, p. 161 (illustrated).
R. Hughes, Magritte en poche, London, 2009, p. 264 (illustrated).
展览
New York, Hugo Gallery, René Magritte, May 1948, no. 18.
Paris, Galerie du Faubourg, Magritte, peintures et gouaches, 1948, no. 24.
Beverly Hills, Copley Galleries, Magritte, September 1948, no. 20.
Rotterdam, Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, René Magritte: het mysterie van de werkelijkheid, Le mystère de la réalité, August - September 1967, no. 104, p. 228 (illustrated p. 229).
Stockholm, Moderna Museet, René Magritte, October - November 1967, no. 83.
Yamaguchi, Prefectural Museum of Art, René Magritte, April - May 1988, no. 90 (illustrated p. 117); this exhibition later travelled to Tokyo, National Museum of Modern Art, May - July 1988.
Verona, Palazzo Forti, Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Da Magritte a Magritte, July - October 1991, no. 69 (illustrated p. 119).
Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts, René Magritte 1898-1967, March - June 1998, no. 282 (illustrated p. 247).
Knokke-le-Zoute, Casino communal, Magritte, June - September 2001, no. 38 (illustrated p. 63).
Paris, Musée Maillol, Magritte tout en papier: collages, dessins, gouaches, March - June 2006, p. 161 (illustrated).
注意事项
Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.

拍品专文

Executed in 1948, Le prince charmant was subsequently exhibited during the same year alongside a text co-written by the artist himself which was almost identical to that published in Magritte's own 1948 publication Titres, quoted above (in the other text, it was the eye, rather than the bird, that was 'princely'). Le prince charmant has subsequently featured in many other exhibitions. The title, meanwhile, is one that this work shared with another, an oil also dating from 1948, painted in the deliberately Fauve style with bold yellows and reds and vigorous brushstrokes showing a bird with a headscarf. There, the head of the bird is also crowned with a miniature fairytale castle. In the present gouache, by contrast, the pictureshows the rooted leaf-birds as the subjects of this imperious, blue-cloaked figure. The main protagonist, who has been able to charm the others, is a pure bird, it appears - albeit anthropomorphic. By contrast, in the case of the leaf-birds, flight, that defining abilityof (most) avian species, appears impossible: these organisms, half vegetal and half bird, have grown up from the terrain over which they are casting their own surveying glances. At the same time, the composition echoes images of the Holy Family, of the pictures of the narrative surrounding the birth of Christ and the Flight into Egypt with the family group clustered in a barren wilderness and the main protagonist draped in lapis-coloured cloth. In this way, Magritte has managed to take a variety of elements from the visual world that surrounds us and to transform them, creating the fascinating juxtapositions that demand that we see supposed reality from a fresh perspective and open our minds to the poetic beauty inherent in all things.