René Magritte

Victor Mattelaer, Belgium (by 1964 and sold: Sotheby’s London, 28th March 1973, lot 64)

Private Collection, Basel

Humlebaek, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art; Edinburgh, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Magritte, 1999, no. 45

Letter from Magritte to Marïen, August 5, 1944

Lettercard from Magritte to Marïen, August 1944

Sarah Whitfield and David Sylvester, Magritte Catalogue raisonné, Oil Pantings and Objects, 1931-1948, London, 1993, vol. II, no. 567, illustrated p. 343

Throughout his life, Magritte’s subject matter focused on dream and fantasy, both central themes in the Surrealist movement. He wanted to open "the doors of dream to everyone for whom the night is miserly" (La Révolution surréaliste, no. 1, December, 1924).  What makes him stand out from other members of the group is his unique matter-of-factness in evoking dream-like sequences, highlighted by the simplicity and realism of his style of painting.  The subject in the present work, which was completed in 1944, lends itself particularly well to such Surrealist concepts.

 

The only other known painting representing a forest transforming into a castle was initially titled by the artist La Belle au bois dormant (Sylverster and Whitfield no. 565), the French title of the children’s story Sleeping Beauty.  David Sylvester has written the following about this related work: "It may well be that the forests here owe something to those of Ernst, those forests of the 1920s of which Magritte is said by Mariën to have forged an example about that time. The solution to the problem of the forest was found in giving the forest the form of a castle, and as his first idea for a title suggests, the image was closely linked to a fairytale" (David Sylvester (ed.), op. cit, London, 1993, p. 342). 

 

However, the title that Magritte gave the present painting reveals the ominous subtext of this composition. Elseneur refers to the site in Shakespeare’s Hamlet where the Prince of Denmark vows to avenge the death of his father. By using this title, the artist gives the painting threatening undertones that suggest nightmare and entrapment.  The composition itself enhances this effect. By "sculpting" a forest into the shape of a castle, Magritte immediately conjures up the idea of enchantment.  Forests and trees frequently appear in Magritte’s oeuvre, as they lend themselves well to ideas of mystery, confusion, dream and nightmare. In the present work, the forest appears impregnable, while the surrounding field is bathed in sunlight and gives no suggestion of what is to be found in the castle-forest.