Page 36 - International Iconic July 2024

SEMINAL WORKS

Magritte artworks sold in past auctions

The original rendition of the presented lot
(René Magritte, Le bouchon d’épouvante, 1966)

LE LIEU COMMUN
39.4 x 31.9 in (100 x 81 cm)
Oil on canvas, 1964
Sold for $ 24,424,835
L’AMI INTIME
28.6 x 25.5 in (72.6 x 64.9 cm)
Oil on canvas, 1958
Sold for $ 43,040,739

LE FILS DE L’HOMME
45.7 x 35 in (116 x 89 cm)
Oil on canvas, 1964
Sold for $ 5,392,500
THE BOWLER HAT

The 1920s saw the first appearance of a recurring motif
that is now synonymous with Magritte - the bowler hat.
The object was used to symbolise generic men belonging
to the bourgeois, middle class who were anonymous and
would often go unnoticed. Much like real life during the
time, these were the same men who adorned the bowler
hats in Magritte’s works. During the 1920s, Magritte used
the bowler hat to showcase the accessory’s pop culture
associations, especially with detectives.
He then abandoned the motif before returning to it in the
1950s and 1960s. These decades saw a new meaning to
the accessory’s appearance which was used to reference
the everyman. Although these figures were nondescript,
they commanded the viewer’s undivided attention, much
like the creator of these images. Magritte himself began
A LA RENCONTRE DU PLAISIR L’EMPIRE DES LUMIÈRES LE PRINCIPE DU PLAISIR donning bowler hats, trying to blend into the crowd
18.1 x 21.6 in (46 x 55 cm) 31.6 x 25.8 in (80.3 x 65.7 cm) 28.7 x 21.5 in (73 x 54.5 cm) and rejecting individuality. Hence, these works also
Oil on canvas, 1962 Oil on canvas, 1951 Oil on canvas, 1937 functioned as self portraits and soon came to be identified
Sold for $ 24,625,273 Sold for $ 42,273,000 Sold for $ 26,830,500 with Magritte himself.