La trahison des images
| La trahison des images |
|---|
| René Magritte , 1929 |
| Oil on canvas |
| 59 × 65 cm |
|
Los Angeles County Museum of Art , Los Angeles
Link to the picture |
La trahison des images (literally: “The betrayal of images”) is one of René Magritte's most famous pictures . It was created in 1929 , is a 59 × 65 cm oil painting and is now in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art . The picture shows a pipe , underneath the words “Ceci n'est pas une pipe.” ( , French for “This is not a pipe.”).
According to the most widespread interpretation, Magritte's intention was to demonstrate that the sitter was dealing with an image and not an actual pipe that could be plugged and smoked. This is the same with the picture as it is with the word “dog”, which cannot bark either, as the semiotic William James put it.
Subject and context of the work
With “La trahison des images” Magritte deals with the relationship between the object, its designation and its representation and had also addressed this in a series of pictures from 1928 to 1966.
As early as 1926, the painter sketched this conceptual discussion in the form of a drawing, which on the one hand depicted a pipe abstractly, on the other hand showed a realistic image of a pipe and also depicted the word “pipe”.
In 1927 Magritte made the picture “Clé des songes” (“The Key of Dreams”), in which four objects can be seen, each with a word depicted next to them; in three of the objects the image and designation do not correspond, this is only the case with the fourth object, a sponge.
In 1928 the painting “Miroir vivant” was completed. In front of a black background, bright, interconnected surfaces can be seen on which the words “personnage éclatant de rire”, “horizon”, “armoire” and “cris d'oiseaux” can be read in black letters.
The highlight and most famous work of the series is then in 1929 “La trahison des images”, a picture that Magritte created in several versions. He also took up the theme of “Clé des songes” again by making a picture in 1930 with six objects, all of which were given a wrong name.
The series of pictures was finally completed in 1966 with the picture “Les deux mystères”. An easel is depicted on it, on which the picture "La trahison des images" can be seen, while another pipe appears next to this picture. This resembles the one in the picture “La trahison des images” in form, but not in color. The pipe in the picture in the picture is worked out more realistically, while the pipe next to the easel remains half in the dark and looks rather pale and artificial.
There are numerous attempts at interpretation of “La trahison des images”, the best known from 1973 by Michel Foucault under the title “ceci n'est pas une pipe”, in which he also documents two letters by Magritte. In addition to the obvious interpretation that an image is not identical to the original object , Foucault points out that Magritte, by showing an apparent paradox, forces the observer to reflect on what is actually meant by the reality of an object.
literature
- Michel Foucault: Ceci n'est pas une pipe: Sur Magritte. Fata Morgana (Scholies), 1973; dt. This is not a pipe. Translated from Walter Seitter , Hanser (Hansermanuskripte), Munich 1974. ISBN 3-446-11848-9