GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Among the most important of René Magritte’s early surrealist works, The Light of Coincidences effects a masterful deception. A single candle casts its light on a sculptural torso, modeling and shaping its form, and throwing a shadow behind it. But the torso is itself painted. The eye is tricked into seeing it both as a framed picture and as a three-dimensional sculpture standing in a box. As is often the case with Magritte, the title itself is an aspect of the work, the words echoing the visible scene. Magritte used this painting to describe the role of light in his art: “While it has the power to make objects visible, [light’s] existence is manifest only on condition that it is accepted by objects. This is made obvious . . . in ‘the light of coincidence,’ where . . . a female torso is lit by a candle. In this case, it seems that the object illuminated itself gives life to light.”
Excerpt from
Bonnie Pitman, ed., Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 261.
NOTES
Created in 1933
René Magritte was a leading Surrealist artist who sought to evoke the mystery of life in his paintings through startling juxtapositions of commonplace objects, which he steadfastly refused to explain. "One can accept poetic images as they are," he wrote, "refraining from reducing to the known what they have of the unknown, since their reality is the same kind as that of the universe."
Excerpt from
Confluence 2017
Checked Piction
Text entries done in TMS.
This painting would be the first major Surrealist painting to enter the collection. It derives from the early phases of Magritte's career, when his themes were at their freshest and most psychologically tense, and involves two of his favorite motifs: the segmented female torso as a play on ancient art and the "picture within a picture" as part of his constant inquiry into the reality of the painted world. The additional old master theme of the lighted candle adds further to the visual puns and "What is real?" conundrum, in that the torso in the inner painting is picking up the light. The whole air of the painting is one of quietude and mystery, and it may represent in fact a reaction to the frozen silence in Baroque candlelight scenes, for example, by Georges de la Tour. That Magritte himself felt this painting to be a key work is indicated by the fact that he chose it for the cover of the first monograph published on him in 1943 and also referred to it in a lecture he delivered in 1938.
Acquisition Justification Steven A. Nash, Curator 1981
For the surrealist René Magritte, painting was a means of transcending reality to probe the mysteries of life. In contrast to other members of the surrealist movement who probed the subconscious through trance states and automatic techniques, creating fantastic creatures and bizarre forms, Magritte developed a form of magic realism. He removed familiar objects, images, and sometimes words from their normal functions, arranged them in uncommon ways, and painted them with a precise realism or literalness that defies common sense and assaults the viewer's preconceived notions of the everyday world.
In The Light of Coincidences Magritte questions the nature of art and reality. The antique torso and baroque motif of the candlelit interior are symbols of the representational traditions in art that had been cast aside by modernism. Magritte toys with the ambiguity between real space and spatial illusion by incorporating a picture of a sculpted woman's torso within the painting. The torso, which in reality would be a three-dimensional object in space, is depicted instead as the subject of a framed painting on an easel. This "painting," however, is highly realistic and introduces, via its trompe l'oeil precision, another "space" within Magritte's composition.
The Light of Coincidences can be seen as an answer to Magritte's questions concerning the nature of light. According to Magritte, light is only real when received by an object. In this way, by illuminating the woman's torso with a candle flame, he has made light visible. Moreover, the candle establishes a mood of quietude and heightens the mysterious aura that was critical to his paintings.
Shirley Reece-Hughes, "The Light of Coincidences", in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Suzanne Kotz (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 1997), 133.
René Magritte toys with the ambiguity between real space and spatial illusion by incorporating an image of a sculpted torso, a classical fragment known as the Venus de Medici, into this painting. The torso, a three-dimensional object, is depicted as the subject of a two-dimensional painting. This “painting,” however, is highly realistic and introduces another illusion of space. The artist represents everyday objects but undermines our commonly held perceptions of the everyday world. René Magritte refused to clarify the meaning of his paintings, explaining that “the mind loves the unknown. It loves images whose meaning is unknown, since the meaning of the mind itself is unknown.”
Heather MacDonald, DMA label copy, October 2010.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Magritte, René (Belgian, 1898-1967)
Cultures
Geography
Place of origin: Brussels (Belgium): TGN: 7007868
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
AUDIO ASSETS
264283028: UMO A Question of Light Tour
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
- Museum of Modern Art, New York~Learn more about the life and work of René Magritte.
- Museum of Modern Art, New York~Listen to a brief analysis of the painting.
- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art,~Watch this video of Magritte discussing the relationship between his work and reality.
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
FUN FACTS
- René Magritte often refused to clarify the meaning of his paintings, explaining that “the mind loves the unknown. It loves images whose meaning is unknown, since the meaning of the mind itself is unknown.”
TEACHING IDEAS
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Apply to objects where number equals 1981.9
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General Description
Among the most important of René Magritte’s early surrealist works, The Light of Coincidences effects a masterful deception. A single candle casts its light on a sculptural torso, modeling and shaping its form, and throwing a shadow behind it. But the torso is itself painted. The eye is tricked into seeing it both as a framed picture and as a three-dimensional sculpture standing in a box. As is often the case with Magritte, the title itself is an aspect of the work, the words echoing the visible scene. Magritte used this painting to describe the role of light in his art: “While it has the power to make objects visible, [light’s] existence is manifest only on condition that it is accepted by objects. This is made obvious . . . in ‘the light of coincidence,’ where . . . a female torso is lit by a candle. In this case, it seems that the object illuminated itself gives life to light.”
Excerpt from
Bonnie Pitman, ed., Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 261.
Fun Facts
- René Magritte often refused to clarify the meaning of his paintings, explaining that “the mind loves the unknown. It loves images whose meaning is unknown, since the meaning of the mind itself is unknown.”
Archival Resources
Web Resources
- Museum of Modern Art, New York~Learn more about the life and work of René Magritte.
- Museum of Modern Art, New York~Listen to a brief analysis of the painting.
- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art,~Watch this video of Magritte discussing the relationship between his work and reality.
Notes
Created in 1933
René Magritte was a leading Surrealist artist who sought to evoke the mystery of life in his paintings through startling juxtapositions of commonplace objects, which he steadfastly refused to explain. "One can accept poetic images as they are," he wrote, "refraining from reducing to the known what they have of the unknown, since their reality is the same kind as that of the universe."
Excerpt from
Confluence 2017
Checked Piction
Text entries done in TMS.
This painting would be the first major Surrealist painting to enter the collection. It derives from the early phases of Magritte's career, when his themes were at their freshest and most psychologically tense, and involves two of his favorite motifs: the segmented female torso as a play on ancient art and the "picture within a picture" as part of his constant inquiry into the reality of the painted world. The additional old master theme of the lighted candle adds further to the visual puns and "What is real?" conundrum, in that the torso in the inner painting is picking up the light. The whole air of the painting is one of quietude and mystery, and it may represent in fact a reaction to the frozen silence in Baroque candlelight scenes, for example, by Georges de la Tour. That Magritte himself felt this painting to be a key work is indicated by the fact that he chose it for the cover of the first monograph published on him in 1943 and also referred to it in a lecture he delivered in 1938.
Acquisition Justification Steven A. Nash, Curator 1981
For the surrealist René Magritte, painting was a means of transcending reality to probe the mysteries of life. In contrast to other members of the surrealist movement who probed the subconscious through trance states and automatic techniques, creating fantastic creatures and bizarre forms, Magritte developed a form of magic realism. He removed familiar objects, images, and sometimes words from their normal functions, arranged them in uncommon ways, and painted them with a precise realism or literalness that defies common sense and assaults the viewer's preconceived notions of the everyday world.
In The Light of Coincidences Magritte questions the nature of art and reality. The antique torso and baroque motif of the candlelit interior are symbols of the representational traditions in art that had been cast aside by modernism. Magritte toys with the ambiguity between real space and spatial illusion by incorporating a picture of a sculpted woman's torso within the painting. The torso, which in reality would be a three-dimensional object in space, is depicted instead as the subject of a framed painting on an easel. This "painting," however, is highly realistic and introduces, via its trompe l'oeil precision, another "space" within Magritte's composition.
The Light of Coincidences can be seen as an answer to Magritte's questions concerning the nature of light. According to Magritte, light is only real when received by an object. In this way, by illuminating the woman's torso with a candle flame, he has made light visible. Moreover, the candle establishes a mood of quietude and heightens the mysterious aura that was critical to his paintings.
Shirley Reece-Hughes, "The Light of Coincidences", in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Suzanne Kotz (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 1997), 133.
René Magritte toys with the ambiguity between real space and spatial illusion by incorporating an image of a sculpted torso, a classical fragment known as the Venus de Medici, into this painting. The torso, a three-dimensional object, is depicted as the subject of a two-dimensional painting. This “painting,” however, is highly realistic and introduces another illusion of space. The artist represents everyday objects but undermines our commonly held perceptions of the everyday world. René Magritte refused to clarify the meaning of his paintings, explaining that “the mind loves the unknown. It loves images whose meaning is unknown, since the meaning of the mind itself is unknown.”
Heather MacDonald, DMA label copy, October 2010.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Magritte, René (Belgian, 1898-1967)
Cultures
Geography
Place of origin: Brussels (Belgium): TGN: 7007868
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
AUDIO ASSETS
264283028: UMO A Question of Light Tour
VIDEO ASSETS
rules
Apply To
Objects
number
Equals
1981.9
source file
object_notes_1_a-0012.xml.nores