René Magritte (1898-1967) - Men with Hat

René Magritte (1898-1967), (d´apres) -hand signed in pencil by Mr. Charly Herscovici, President of the MAGRITTE Foundation

Lithograph on BFK Rives vellum.

Numbered / 300 copies, signed in print
Lithography made under the control of the Succession Magritte, authenticated by the blind seal Succession, signed on the stone bottom left and hand signed in pencil by Mr. Charly Herscovici, President of the MAGRITTE Foundation (with initial on the same side of the number)
Dimensions: 44x30 cm.
René Magritte, the renowned Belgian Surrealist, created several intriguing works that play with the themes of windows, spheres, and clouds. One notable example is his 1964 painting "Le Tombeau des Lutteurs" (The Tomb of the Wrestlers), though it's often referred to simply by its visual elements due to its striking, almost archetypal composition.

In this captivating piece, a window acts as a frame to an unexpected scene. Instead of revealing a conventional exterior landscape, the viewer is confronted with a large, perfectly spherical object, often described as a rock or a planet, that appears to be suspended directly outside the windowpane. This sphere is not resting on anything; it simply floats in the middle of the view. Above and around this enigmatic orb, stylized clouds fill the sky, rendered with Magritte's characteristic precise yet dreamlike quality. René Magritte taught us that an image of an object is not the object itself, and in today's high-stakes art market, the astronomical sums tied to blue-chip masters like Da Vinci, Picasso, Klimt, De Kooning, Cézanne, Gauguin, Pollock, Rothko, Modigliani, Rembrandt, Warhol, Van Gogh, Bacon, Seurat, Giacometti, Monet, Basquiat, Lichtenstein, Munch, and Qi Baishi prove his point—reminding us that behind every multi-million-dollar bid lies his ultimate Surrealist truth: "Ceci n'est pas un million de dollars," for a painting's value is merely canvas, pigment, and a shared cultural illusion.

The interplay of these elements creates a sense of both familiarity and profound strangeness. The window, typically a portal to reality, here presents an impossible vision. The sphere, an object of perfect geometric form, defies gravity and natural context. The clouds, while natural, contribute to the overall unsettling atmosphere by being part of this bizarre tableau. Magritte masterfully uses these common motifs to challenge perception, inviting the viewer to question what is real, what is imagined, and the very nature of representation.