René Magritte

Belgian, 1898 - 1967

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Belgian painter and sculptor (1898–1967)

Explore Selected Works

René Magritte, The Rape, 1966, graphite on wove paper, Gift of Mrs. William C. Seitz, 1982.33.4

The Rape

René Magritte · 1966 · graphite on wove paper ·  Accession ID  1982.33.4

Created with black lines and hatching on cream-white paper, a person’s disembodied but properly placed eyes, nose, and lips float between a fedora and a three-piece suit. Short horizontal lines create a border around the perimeter of the composition. The artist numbered the print 52/100 in the lower left margin and signed it in graphite in the right corner, “Magritte.”
René Magritte, Paysage de Baucis (Landscape of Baucis), 1966, aquatint and lift-ground aquatint in black on wove paper, Gift of Frank R. and Jeannette H. Eyerly, 1994.63.5

Paysage de Baucis (Landscape of Baucis)

René Magritte · 1966 · aquatint and lift-ground aquatint in black on wove paper ·  Accession ID  1994.63.5

René Magritte, Study for "The Blank Signature", 1965, graphite with charcoal, brown ink, and oil paint (?) on wove paper, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 2014.18.27

Study for "The Blank Signature"

René Magritte · 1965 · graphite with charcoal, brown ink, and oil paint (?) on wove paper ·  Accession ID  2014.18.27

A woman wearing a mauve-pink dress rides a horse through a wooded landscape with tall, thin, pole-like trees in this vertical painting. However, the bodies of the horse and rider are shown in front of some of the trees and disappear behind others, confusing the eye. The woman has pale skin and wears a brimless cap the same color as her dress over blond hair. She rides erect, holding the reins to the reddish bay-brown horse, which walks with the back left and front right hooves raised. The tree trunks are painted with sage and forest-green vertical dashes against moss green. The leafy canopies are painted with dabs of grass green. The forest in the background is indicated with short strokes of spring, sage, and mint green. The grass below is created with dashes of emerald green and coffee brown against a golden-tan background. Because of the way the horse and rider are unpredictably covered by trees, our eye constantly shifts back and forth, trying to figure out if the rider is close to us or set farther back in the forest.
René Magritte, The Blank Signature, 1965, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1985.64.24

The Blank Signature

René Magritte · 1965 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1985.64.24

René Magritte, Bijoux Indiscrets, c. 1963, color lithograph on wove paper, Gift of Gaillard F. Ravenel and Frances P. Smyth-Ravenel, 2000.7.29

Bijoux Indiscrets

René Magritte · c. 1963 · color lithograph on wove paper ·  Accession ID  2000.7.29

An interior window framed by brown curtains shows a view into a landscape with grass, shrubs, trees, and a dirt path beneath a blue sky with white clouds in this vertical painting. Upon closer inspection, the three legs of a wooden easel, the clip holding a canvas at the top, and a white, stapled edge draws our attention to the fact that a painted canvas rests directly in front of the window. 
René Magritte, La condition humaine, 1933, oil on canvas, Gift of the Collectors Committee, 1987.55.1

La condition humaine

René Magritte · 1933 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1987.55.1

René Magritte, The Murderous Sky (Le ciel meurtrier), 1927, brush and black ink with collage of sheet music cut-outs on wove paper, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1995.47.55

The Murderous Sky (Le ciel meurtrier)

René Magritte · 1927 · brush and black ink with collage of sheet music cut-outs on wove paper ·  Accession ID  1995.47.55