La Comtesse de Monte Cristo - Les Bouteilles. The Bottles. by René Magritte, 1898-1967

René Magritte, 1898-1967
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La Comtesse de Monte Cristo - Les Bouteilles. The Bottles.

Etching in black ink. 1966. Signed in full in pencil. Numbered (a) in pencil from the group of 15 ('o') proof impressions. There was also a numbered edition of 77 impressions. Printed at the studio of J.Rigal, Paris 1966. Issued in the series: L'Aube à l'Antipode - Dawn in the
Antipodes, Paris 1966.
Ref: Kaplan and Baum - Magritte Graphic Work no 6.

Excellent strong fresh impression. On pale cream wove Richard de Bas paper. Excellent condition. Full margins. Sheet: 15 1/8 x 11ins (385x280mm). Plate: 8 1/4 x 6 1/5ins (208x159mm)

One of the few prints in Magritte's work to be actually hand pencil signed.

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The enigma of Magritte's art, and at the same time its essence, is the way that his imagery challenges our preconceived and comfortable everyday notions. Stimulated by his introduction to the art of De Chirico in 1922 he wanted to show how reality and non-reality exist side-by-side in our minds. By using almost totally realistic depictions of everyday objects, but with a sudden element of the unexpected and illogical in setting or in juxtaposition, he stimulates us to move from normality into the subconscious world of the dream.

As well as his work on conventional canvases Magritte also liked to create painted objects. One of his favourite and most effective was a bottle painted to represent a woman - instantly recognisable as a bottle but at the same time a beautiful pictorial evocation of the female form. In the etching above he used an extension of the same idea; an arrangement of three bottles and then a fourth which becomes a nude. And then there is the further question; is it a fourth bottle, or are we looking through a bottle-shaped cut-out at a figure somewhere beyond.

The titles of Magritte's works are often random and seemingly unconnected with the imagery. He disliked titles, and would sometimes ask friends to think up titles and apply them at random to previously untitled works.