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Page from a sketchbook with three studies among others for 'Perspective: Manet’s Balcony', ca. 1948 - 1950

  • pencils (drawing and writing equipment), paper
  • 302 x 234 mm
  • Inv. 2010-B-recto

© Succession René Magritte - SABAM Belgium 2023

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René Magritte's drawings are not as well-known as his painted oeuvre. Yet he drew intensively throughout his life. In this sketchbook sheet, the upper part is a study for the painting Perspective: Le balcon de Manet from 1950 of which the Ghent museum owns the second version. From the comparison of the drawing and the painting it appears that Magritte initially foresaw only two coffins, one sitting on the other's lap. In the painting, he followed Manet's original composition more closely with a seated 'figure' and several standing 'figures' behind it. In the centre of the sheet - and upside down - is the bust of a masked man with, next to him, the inscription 'Paris'. Magritte elaborated this representation in the gouache Flûte from 1948 (private collection). At the bottom, he drew several coffins in a shortened perspective, perhaps a study for Madame Récamier de David (private collection), another work in the 'Perspectives' series. On the reverse side of the sketch sheet, there are fourteen studies.

Artist

René Magritte RKD VIAF Wikidata
Lessines 1898 - Schaerbeek (Brussels) 1967
draftsmen (artists)AAT

Title Page from a sketchbook with three studies among others for 'Perspective: Manet’s Balcony'
Date ca. 1948 - 1950
Period 20th century
Signatures, inscriptions, and markings location centre: Paris
Collection print room
Object type pencil drawings AAT
Inventory number 2010-B-recto
Current whereabouts Work currently not on display
Permalink https://mskgent.be/collection/work/data/2010-B-recto
IIIF Manifest https://imagehub.mskgent.be/iiif/3/5961/manifest.json
Art & Architecture Thesaurus 300189808 figures (representations) AAT
300056485 fantastic art AAT
Keywords Iconclass 42E141 coffin Iconclass
48C524 drawing, sketch Iconclass
School / Style Surrealist AAT
Magritte : Dessins, croquis et esquisses de l'atelier de René Magritte (Exposition Paris, Galerie Isy Brachot, 12.10.1988 - 07-01.1989) / Louis Scutenaire. - Paris : Galerie Isy Brachot, 1988-1989 (p. 82-83 (ill.))
René Magritte : Catalogue Raisonné. I: Oil Paintings 1916-1930 ; II: Oil Paintings and Objects 1931-1948 ; III: Oil Paintings, Objects and Bronzes 1949-1967 ; IV: Gouaches, Temperas, Watercolours and Papiers Collés 1918-1967 ; V: Supplement, Exhibitions Lists, Bibliography, Cumulative Index ; VI: Newly discovered Works ; Oil Paintings, Gouaches, Drawings / David Sylvester, Sarah Whitfield, Michael Raeburn, Lynette Cawthra. - Antwerpen : Mercatorfonds, 1992-2012 ; Houston : Menil Foundation, 1992-2012 (dl. III, p. 146-147, nr. 710)
René Magritte : Catalogue Raisonné. I: Oil Paintings 1916-1930 ; II: Oil Paintings and Objects 1931-1948 ; III: Oil Paintings, Objects and Bronzes 1949-1967 ; IV: Gouaches, Temperas, Watercolours and Papiers Collés 1918-1967 ; V: Supplement, Exhibitions Lists, Bibliography, Cumulative Index ; VI: Newly discovered Works ; Oil Paintings, Gouaches, Drawings / David Sylvester, Sarah Whitfield, Michael Raeburn, Lynette Cawthra. - Antwerpen : Mercatorfonds, 1992-2012 ; Houston : Menil Foundation, 1992-2012 (dl. IV, p. 109, nr. 1273)
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