René Magritte

The present work combines two recurring motifs of Magritte’s œuvre, that of a bird-leaf and a leaf partly eaten by caterpillars. The latter image first appeared in a gouache Magritte executed in 1938 or 1939 (D. Sylvester (ed.), op. cit., no. 1150), for which Paul Nougé invented the title La Saveur des larmes. The bird-leaf motif was first added to this image in a gouache of the same title, executed in 1946 (ibid., no. 1217). Magritte here combined some of his usual motifs in such a way as to create several contradictions: he juxtaposed the plant and animal world in one image, presented in a setting that is at the same time an interior and a seascape, and has combined the idyllic image of a treasure island with a more sinister scene of devouring and decay. The present gouache is closest to two almost identical oils of the same title (ibid., nos. 664 & 665) of 1948, belonging to the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique in Brussels (fig. 1) and The Barber Institute of Fine Arts in Birmingham respectively. Writing about these paintings, that share their imagery with the present work, Jacques Meuris commented:

‘With Flavor of Tears Magritte abandoned his “vache” period and went back to his usual style. At the same time he developed the idea contained in certain paintings of 1942, including Treasure Island and a gouache entitled Natural Graces. That was where he had created the new figures that were to inhabit several subsequent works, the birds-become-plants belonging to both animal and vegetable kingdoms. These pigeons or doves in the form of spear-shaped leaves are shown in settings that are sometimes more than a little romantic (Treasure Island has an atmosphere reminiscent of certain Caspar David Friedrich paintings) or more usually in close-up, like strange botanical illustrations. As Paul Colinet wrote, we are here at the very heart of Magritte’s “enchanted world,” a world disencumbered of the apparatus of shock or fear’ (J. Meuris, René Magritte, London, 1988, p. 122).

Further works on paper by Magritte from this collection will be offered in the Works on Paper sale on 21st June (lots 157-160).

This work has been requested for the exhibition of gouaches by René Magritte, to be held at the Fondation Dina Vierny, Musée Maillol in Paris from February to June 2006.

Fig. 1, René Magritte, La Saveur des larmes, 1948, oil on canvas, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels