GENERAL DESCRIPTION
As a surrealist artist, René Magritte painted ordinary objects in unusual circumstances in order to question our perceptions of reality. He also frequently chose titles that seem unrelated to his works, challenging viewers to devise their own meanings for his paintings. Here, for instance, "Persian Letters" is the title of an 18th–century literary satire describing the travels of two Persian noblemen in France. When we look at Magritte's painting, however, what we see is a pair of trousers standing on top of a table. This unexpected juxtaposition prompts several questions. What do trousers have to do with 18th–century France, and where is the person who should be wearing them?
Excerpt from
Heather MacDonald, DMA label copy, 2010.
NOTES
Created 1958
Checked Piction
Acquisition Justification:
Rene Magritte is one of the most accessible of the Surrealists. Rather than inventing private fantasies, as did many of his fellow members of the movement, Magritte adhered closely to what could be seen in the real world. He did this with the belief, however, that reality was in defiance of rationality. Some of the earlier images remind us of the absurdities of a dream world, but the great majority of works was meant to function as a visual language aims at making an appeal to the conscious mind. With the aid of this language, the viewer was to be led into the heart of the mystery which Magritte saw as the essence of existence. Towards this end, he spoke of his determination to make the most familiar object "scream aloud" by removing it from its normal surroundings and introducing it into an unfamiliar place or context. Along with these spacial dislocations, he also frequently made use of interchangeable forms and anatomical transportation. Most of Magritte's works executed after 1948 are elaborations of earlier themes developed during the 1920s and 1930s. "Persian Letters" is similar to works done after 1927, which are less dreamlike than the pictures of the mod-twenties that were influenced by Giorgio de Chirico, less complex in mood and organization and based instead on the direct impact of visual paradox. At the same time, this painting seems to anticipate certain later works of the 1960s, particularly the "bowler-hatted man" series, such as "The Pilgrim" of 1966, in which a man's face has been displaced laterally to the left from a "vacant" hat and suited torso. "Persian Letters" achieves a sense of mystery through simple means. A pair of men's trousers is poised atop an ordinary table. Somber brown and grey tones are used throughout. The subtle aura surrounding the trousers is incongruous with the natural light shining from the right. To these elements can be added the cryptic title, which would typically have had a logical, albeit idiosyncratic, association with the image for the artist himself. But this mental collision between incompatible things raises many questions about the identity of objects as well as the nature of man. For instance, we might wonder if the pair of trousers has been donned by an invisible man whose existence is represented more poignantly by his absence than by his presence. Or are we witnessing a pair of trousers inflated (both literally and figuratively speaking) and taking on a life of its own? In the end, our questions must remain unanswered and, as with all of Magritte's works, we are left with a riddle. "Persian Letters" has been exhibited in the United States twice, once in 1962 at the Bodley Gallery in New York, and a second time in 1979 at the Parrish Art Museum, South Hampton, New York. As a work by one of the foremost masters of Surrealism, this painting will be a valuable addition to the permanent collection of the DMA and will significantly enhance the museum's representation of that movement. It will join one other painting by Magritte titled "The Light of Coincidences" of 1933, which is part of the permanent collection, in addition to two paintings on loan entitled "The Return" of 1965 and "Jeunes Filles au Bord de l'Eau" of 1966, both by Paul Delvaux.
Magritte, René (Belgian, 1898-1967)
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Place of origin: Brussels (Belgium): TGN: 7007868
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WEB RESOURCES
- Museum of Modern Art, New York~Learn more about Magritte from MOMA.
- Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco~Watch this video titled "What is cheese? A reality lesson from René Magritte" from SFMOMA.
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General Description
As a surrealist artist, René Magritte painted ordinary objects in unusual circumstances in order to question our perceptions of reality. He also frequently chose titles that seem unrelated to his works, challenging viewers to devise their own meanings for his paintings. Here, for instance, "Persian Letters" is the title of an 18th–century literary satire describing the travels of two Persian noblemen in France. When we look at Magritte's painting, however, what we see is a pair of trousers standing on top of a table. This unexpected juxtaposition prompts several questions. What do trousers have to do with 18th–century France, and where is the person who should be wearing them?
Excerpt from
Heather MacDonald, DMA label copy, 2010.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
- Museum of Modern Art, New York~Learn more about Magritte from MOMA.
- Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco~Watch this video titled "What is cheese? A reality lesson from René Magritte" from SFMOMA.
Notes
Created 1958
Checked Piction
Acquisition Justification:
Rene Magritte is one of the most accessible of the Surrealists. Rather than inventing private fantasies, as did many of his fellow members of the movement, Magritte adhered closely to what could be seen in the real world. He did this with the belief, however, that reality was in defiance of rationality. Some of the earlier images remind us of the absurdities of a dream world, but the great majority of works was meant to function as a visual language aims at making an appeal to the conscious mind. With the aid of this language, the viewer was to be led into the heart of the mystery which Magritte saw as the essence of existence. Towards this end, he spoke of his determination to make the most familiar object "scream aloud" by removing it from its normal surroundings and introducing it into an unfamiliar place or context. Along with these spacial dislocations, he also frequently made use of interchangeable forms and anatomical transportation. Most of Magritte's works executed after 1948 are elaborations of earlier themes developed during the 1920s and 1930s. "Persian Letters" is similar to works done after 1927, which are less dreamlike than the pictures of the mod-twenties that were influenced by Giorgio de Chirico, less complex in mood and organization and based instead on the direct impact of visual paradox. At the same time, this painting seems to anticipate certain later works of the 1960s, particularly the "bowler-hatted man" series, such as "The Pilgrim" of 1966, in which a man's face has been displaced laterally to the left from a "vacant" hat and suited torso. "Persian Letters" achieves a sense of mystery through simple means. A pair of men's trousers is poised atop an ordinary table. Somber brown and grey tones are used throughout. The subtle aura surrounding the trousers is incongruous with the natural light shining from the right. To these elements can be added the cryptic title, which would typically have had a logical, albeit idiosyncratic, association with the image for the artist himself. But this mental collision between incompatible things raises many questions about the identity of objects as well as the nature of man. For instance, we might wonder if the pair of trousers has been donned by an invisible man whose existence is represented more poignantly by his absence than by his presence. Or are we witnessing a pair of trousers inflated (both literally and figuratively speaking) and taking on a life of its own? In the end, our questions must remain unanswered and, as with all of Magritte's works, we are left with a riddle. "Persian Letters" has been exhibited in the United States twice, once in 1962 at the Bodley Gallery in New York, and a second time in 1979 at the Parrish Art Museum, South Hampton, New York. As a work by one of the foremost masters of Surrealism, this painting will be a valuable addition to the permanent collection of the DMA and will significantly enhance the museum's representation of that movement. It will join one other painting by Magritte titled "The Light of Coincidences" of 1933, which is part of the permanent collection, in addition to two paintings on loan entitled "The Return" of 1965 and "Jeunes Filles au Bord de l'Eau" of 1966, both by Paul Delvaux.
Magritte, René (Belgian, 1898-1967)
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