René Magritte (Belgian, 1898-1967)
Collection of sketches, to include nude and fumme studies

ink, pencil
(4, unframed)

ARR

(Quantity:4)

Dimensions: 19 x 42.5 cm. (7 1/2 x 16 5/8 in.) various sizes

Sale; Sotheby's, London, The Remaining Contents of the Studio of Rene Magritte,the property of the late Georgette Berger, the widow of René Magritte, 2 July 1987, lot 809 (these works were part of the group lot), where purchased by the present owner.

The sketch of the cigarette draws on the concept of 'the pipe' inRené Magritte’s works. The pipe is one of Magritte’s most iconic and thought-provoking motifs, famously explored in his painting The Treachery of Images (1929), which features a realistic image of a pipe accompanied by the caption “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” (“This is not a pipe”). Through this juxtaposition, Magritte challenges the viewer’s assumptions about representation and reality, emphasizing that an image is merely a depiction, not the object itself. The pipe, a mundane and familiar item, becomes a symbol of the gap between language, image, and meaning. This exploration reflects Magritte’s broader surrealist project to disrupt ordinary perception and to provoke reflection on how we construct and interpret reality. By highlighting the difference between the symbol and the thing it represents, Magritte invites viewers to question the reliability of visual signs and the limits of human understanding.