Magritte: A Lab of Ideas by Xavier Cannone and Julie Waseige

Description

This comprehensive publication brings together for the first time more than 200 works on paper by René Magritte, most of which have remained unpublished.

Rene Magritte's visual language emerged out of his engagement with paper. His major works began as sketches that he made in the corners of letters or notepads; he formulated and refined his ideas in gouache versions of existing oil paintings; and he learned to assess the effect of his images in the commercial illustrations he made.

For Magritte, paper was a source of joy. Unlike his oil paintings, which required meticulousness and patience, paper was a medium where he could let his ideas run free. Especially in his correspondence, drawings, collages and gouaches, he tried new approaches. From sketches to raster drawings, from scribbles in his letters to book illustrations, and from preparatory sketches to finished paintings, drawing formed the core of his work. This aspect of Magritte's oeuvre is rarely examined, although it lies at the heart of his painting. His drawings give us a better understanding of how his ideas evolved.

192 pp. hardcover

23.9 x 3.3 x 28.7cm

Published August 2022 by Ludion