The False Mirror
The False Mirror (1928) is a surrealist oil painting by René Magritte that depicts a human eye framing a cloudy, blue sky.[1][2][3] In the depiction of the eye in the painting, the clouds take the place normally occupied by the iris.[4][5][6] The painting's original French title is Le faux miroir.[7]
Provenance
Magritte painted three versions of Le faux miroir.[8]
The original version of The False Mirror was painted at Le Perreux-sur-Marne, France in 1928. Between 1933 and 1936 it was owned by the surrealist photographer Man Ray.[9][10] The painting was purchased from Man Ray by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It has remained in the MOMA permanent in collection since its purchase.[11]
Magritte painted a second version of The False Mirror in 1935. The oil on canvas work, sized 19 × 27 cm, is in a private collection.[12][13][7]
A gouache on paper version of The False Mirror, executed by Magritte in 1952, sold at auction in 2010 for GBP 373,250.[14]
In popular culture
The painting is said to be one of the inspirations for the 1952 CBS television "eye" logo designed by William Golden.[15][16][17][18][19]
Vaporwave and New Age producer Eco Virtual used this painting as the album cover on her second album, ATMOSPHERES 第2.[20]
References
- Brater, Enoch (27 December 1990). Beyond Minimalism: Beckett's Late Style in the Theater. Oxford University Press. pp. 76–. ISBN 978-0-19-536203-9.
- Brubaker, David Adam; Chunchen Wang (12 February 2015). Jizi and His Art in Contemporary China: Unification. Springer. pp. 81–. ISBN 978-3-662-44929-5.
- Roberts, Helene E. (5 September 2013). Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography: Themes Depicted in Works of Art. Routledge. pp. 607–. ISBN 978-1-136-78793-5.
- Didier Maleuvre (15 February 2011). The Horizon: A History of Our Infinite Longing. University of California Press. pp. 294–. ISBN 978-0-520-94711-5.
- Michael Elsohn Ross (1 September 2003). Salvador Dalí and the Surrealists: Their Lives and Ideas, 21 Activities. Chicago Review Press. pp. 53–. ISBN 978-1-61374-275-4.
- Gregory Minissale (January 2009). Framing Consciousness in Art: Transcultural Perspectives. Rodopi. pp. 374–. ISBN 978-90-420-2581-3.
- Patricia Allmer; Hilde van Gelder (2007). Collective Inventions: Surrealism in Belgium. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-90-5867-592-7.
- Patrick Roegiers (2005). Magritte and Photography. Distributed Art Pub Incorporated. ISBN 978-90-5544-562-2.
- Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.) (1 June 2013). MoMA Highlights: 350 Works from The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Museum of Modern Art. pp. 89–. ISBN 978-0-87070-846-6.
- Rebecca Houze (19 May 2016). New Mythologies in Design and Culture: Reading Signs and Symbols in the Visual Landscape. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 89–. ISBN 978-1-4725-1849-1.
- "René Magritte. The False Mirror. Paris 1929 | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art.
- René Magritte (2002). The Portable Magritte. Universe. ISBN 978-0-7893-0665-4.
- Jacques Meuris; René Magritte (1994). Magritte. Taschen. ISBN 978-3-8228-0546-6.
- "René Magritte (1898-1967)". www.christies.com.
- Richard D. Zakia (11 February 2013). Perception and Imaging: Photography--A Way of Seeing. Taylor & Francis. pp. 320–. ISBN 978-1-136-09237-4.
- Maurice Berger (2014). Revolution of the Eye: Modern Art and the Birth of American Television. Yale University Press. pp. 31–. ISBN 978-0-300-20793-4.
- "After 64 years, the "Eye" still resonates". www.cbsnews.com.
- "René Magritte: The artist who turned the world on its head". www.telegraph.co.uk.
- Caro, Mark. "Exhibit puts Magritte's work firmly back in art world". chicagotribune.com.
- "ATMOSPHERES 第2, by Eco Virtual". Eco Virtual.