René Magritte

Alexander Iolas
Private Collection, Switzerland (acquired from the above circa 1965)

Paris, Galerie Alexandre Iolas, Magritte: le sens propre, 1964, no. 37
New York, Iolas Gallery, Magritte: le sens propre, 1965

Letter from Magritte to André Bosmans, October 24, 1964, mentioned
(possibly) Henri Michaux, "En Rêvant à partir de peintures énigmatiques", Mercure de France, Paris, December 1964, p. 596
Patrick Waldberg, René Magritte, 1965, no. 339, illustrated p. 47
David Sylvester, ed., Sarah Whitfield and Michael Raeburn, René Magritte, Catalogue raisoné, vol. IV: Gouaches, Temperas, Watercolours and Papiers Collés 1918-1967, Antwerp, 1994, no. 1571, illustrated p. 277

Executed in 1964, Par une belle fin d’après-midi is a captivating example of one of the central themes of Magritte’s art, that of unexpectedly juxtaposed objects seen in a generic, unidentified landscape.  In this work, the artist has turned an everyday scene, that of two people sitting on a brick wall and talking, into one that is at the same time comical and macabre, by replacing the figures with coffins.  With an extraordinary simplicity of means and sharpness of execution that characterised his later work, Magritte created an image of mystery and ambiguity: it is unclear whether the figures have been metamorphosed into coffins or are hidden inside them.

In several other works on this theme, Magritte applied this subject to famous images in art history, most notably in Perspective: Madame Récamier de David and Perspective: Le Balcon de Manet (see fig. 1), both painted in 1950.  Around the same time he executed the present work, Magritte also produced one oil and one gouache version of this subject, both titled La Belle hérétique, each showing a single coffin seated on a similar stone wall.  In the present work, however, the two coffins are slightly turned towards each other, suggesting the act of conversation, which gives them a more animated character, thus further confusing the notions of life and death.

In a letter to André Bosmans of October 24, 1964, Magritte wrote about two gouaches he did for the forthcoming exhibition at Iolas’ gallery in Paris.  One of them was the present work:  "Have also redone two coffins seated in a mountainous landscape, with a new title: 'One fine late afternoon' " (quoted in David Sylvester, ed., op. cit., p. 277).  Magritte’s friend and fellow Surrealist Marcel Mariën recalled how he and Nougé burst out laughing when they first saw one of the gouaches on this subject: “because the fact is … the image is comic – laughter and death, it is well known, have always gone hand in hand” (quoted in Sarah Whitfield, Magritte (exhibition catalogue), Hayward Gallery, London, 1992, p. 294).

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, Perspective: Le Balcon de Manet, 1950, oil on canvas, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Ghent