lithograph, paper, 42 x 32 cm
Lithograph, heavy vellum paper, 42 x 32 cm (composition), 70 x 50 (sheet), numbered in pencil 13/100, signed from plate under composition "Magritte", publisher's dry stamp p.d. : "EDIZIONI ARO D'ARTE". Dry stamp l.d. : "S.P.A.D.E.M. Paris" (SPADEM is the French equivalent of the Polish ZAIKS), hologram "verification of authenticity" on the back. Original certificate.
René François Ghislain Magritte - Belgian painter, surrealist. Called "the author of words and things. His paintings shocked and stirred controversy,they aredistinguished bypoeticmoodinessand precise drawing. Painted in 1949, the paintingisconsidered Magritte's surrealist manifesto.
A year after Magritte painted "Le regard intérieur," his friend, poet Louis Scutenaire wrote a comment: "Tobe sureofkilling them while hunting,the manshot a hail ofarrows atthe animalshepainted onthe walls ofcaves.Todayhe restoreslife to theleavesbysprinklingthem with birds."
Magritte's vision was based on unusual and unexpected associations that brought a deeper understanding of the mysteries of our own existence. Magritte presented mysterious juxtapositions of unlikely objects orimpossiblelandscapes.Suddenly, inspiredin part by avision inwhich hesaw a caged bird intheroomhe wasstayinginreplaced by an egg, herealizedthat byexploring the relationshipsbetween the elements of ouruniversehe couldreachtheirinner mystery.Thus thetreeleafcame intoexistence,the solution to the "problem" ofthe tree. In "Le regardintérieur," headded a new dimension to this "problem" byshowingthe impossiblyexotic range ofbirdssleepingon a giantleaf.Meanwhile,he alsoadded another "selectiveaffinity" betweenwater in a glass andwater in the sea.Althoughthere is nothing "impossible" about the juxtaposition of thesetwoelements, Magritteneverthelessmanages topresentthem in sucha waythatthey become all the more expressive of the mystery ofthe world. In doingso,he rejects all theassumptionsabout our surroundingsthatwetooreadily make,encouragingus to look at theuniverseanew.
The painting was first exhibited in New York, at theBrooklynMuseum'sInternationalWatercolor Exhibition:FifteenthBiennial, May-June 1949, probably No. 26c (titled "Inner Eye").
