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https://piction.clevelandart.org/cma/ump.di?e=CB6E785341A85FCF79CE9427EB0275590C5C6B8411D6D3FB16B18ABB945562C4&s=24247294&se=1466070835&v=4&f=1992.298_o2.jpg

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Oct 3, 2005

The Secret Life

1928

René Magritte

(Belgian, 1898–1967)

Belgium, 20th century

Oil on canvas

Unframed: 57.2 x 75.9 x 2.9 cm (22 1/2 x 29 7/8 x 1 1/8 in.)

Bequest of Lockwood Thompson 1992.298

Location

225 German Expressionism & Surrealism

Did you know?

This is the first of many paintings Magritte made with the title The Secret Life.

Description

A preeminent Surrealist active in Brussels and Paris, Magritte used traditional painting techniques to create images of realistically rendered objects juxtaposed illogically - comparable in spirit to poet Isidore Ducasse's definition of beauty as"the chance meeting on a dissection table of a sewing machine and an umbrella." Magritte's visual paradoxes are designed to undermine our complacent belief in a stable, predictable, rational world.

Video

Inscriptions

Inscription

signed lower left: Magritte [inscribed on back: "LA VIE SECRÈTE" (II.) 20P.]

Provenance

By 1929

(Probably Paul-Gustave van Hecke/Galerie L'Epoque/Galerie le Centaure, Brussels) ¹

Until 1945

(Lou Cosyn, Brussels, sold to Lockwood Thompson) ²

1945-1992 :

Lockwood Thompson (1901-1992), Cleveland, OH, bequeathed to the Cleveland Museum of Art ³

1982-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Provenance Footnotes

¹In his 1992 catalogue raisonné, David Sylvester notes that a “GS” label on the back of the painting indicates that was in van Hecke’s stock at the Galerie l’Epoque at the time its takeover by Galerie le Centaure in early 1929. Currently, there are no labels or markings on the back of the painting, likely at least in part because the stetcher appears new, possibly dating to after Sylvester’s catalogue raisonné. The path the painting took from van Hecke to Cosyn is unknown. Magritte’s contract was initially with van Hecke and Galerie l’Epoque, and he then remained under contract with Galerie le Centaure until it closed in 1932. On October 21 of that year, it held a liquidation sale of its stock, but the Cleveland picture is not among the works listed. In 1932, E.L.T. Mesens, director, under owner van Hecke, of L’Epoque from 1928, bought up 150 of Magritte’s works at the liquidation sale of Le Centaure and became the artist’s dealer, and so Mesens may have been involved in the painting’s provenance after the dissolution of Galerie le Centaure. Or, because Secret Life does not appear in the catalogue of the liquidation sale, Mesens may also have acquired the painting prior to 1932. However, exhibitions of Magritte’s work mounted by Mesens in 1931 and as late as 1937 do not include the CMA painting.

²In 1942, Lou Cosyn, along with her husband Camille Goemans, whose relationship with Magritte went back to the late 1920s, opened a gallery in Brussels. Cosyn remained Magritte’s dealer until 1947. In 1943, they held an exhibition in semi-secrecy in order to escape the notice of the occupying Germans. There does not appear to have been a catalogue for this exhibition, so it is not known whether the Cleveland picture was among the exhibited works. Cosyn sold the painting to Lockwood Thompson, an American GI, in November 1945.

³When Thompson purchased the painting, a length of rope looped at the center served as the painting’s “frame.” While there are no other known instances of Magritte’s having used this framing device, it likely originated with the artist.

Citations

Sylvester, David. Magritte. London: Thames and Hudson, 1992.

Exhibition history

CMA (organizer). Beijing World Art Museum, China, May 26 - Aug. 27, 2006; Mori Arts Center, Tokyo, Japan: Sept. 9 - Nov. 26, 2006; Seoul Arts Center, Seoul, Korea: Dec. 18, 2006 - March 31, 2007; Seoul Olympic Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea: Apr. 7 - May 20, 2007; Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada: June 9 - Sept. 16, 2007; Cleveland Museum of Art, Oct. 21, 2007- January 13, 2008; Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, TN, Feb. 21-June 1, 2008; Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, UT, June 22 - September 21, 2008; and the Detroit Institute of Arts, MI, October 12, 2008 - January 18, 2009: "Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art"

Selected Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 9-April 11, 1993).

Monet to Dalí: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Beijing World Art Museum, China (May 26-August 27, 2006); Mori Art Center (September 16-November 26, 2006); Seoul Art Center, South Korea (December 22, 2006-March 28, 2007); Seoul Olympic Museum of Art, South Korea (April 7-May 20, 2007); Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada (June 9-September 16, 2007); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 21, 2007-January 13, 2008); Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (February 15-June 1, 2008); Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, UT (June 22-September 21, 2008); The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (October 12, 2008-January 18, 2009).

The Magritte Machine. Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain (organizer) (September 14, 2021-January 30, 2022) https://www.museothyssen.org/exposiciones/maquina-magritte; Fundació "la Caixa", Barcelona, Spain (February 24-June 6, 2022).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=The Secret Life|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1992.298|author=René Magritte|year=1928|access-date=29 May 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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The Secret Life

The Secret Life

René Magritte

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