| The False Mirror | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | René Magritte |
| Year | 1929 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 54 cm × 80.9 cm (21 in × 31.9 in) |
| Location | Museum of Modern Art, New York |
The False Mirror is a surrealist oil on canvas painting by René Magritte, from 1929. It depicts a human eye framing a cloudy, blue sky.123 In the depiction of the eye in the painting, the clouds take the place normally occupied by the iris.456 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 1929. Between 1933 and 1936 it was owned by the surrealist photographer Man Ray.910 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.12137
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.1516171819
Vaporwave producer Eco Virtual used this painting as the album cover on their second album, ATMOSPHERES 第2 (2014).20
References
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. 23 October 2015.
- "René Magritte: The artist who turned the world on its head". www.telegraph.co.uk. 20 June 2011.
- Caro, Mark (17 June 2014). "Exhibit puts Magritte's work firmly back in art world". chicagotribune.com.
- "ATMOSPHERES 第2, by Eco Virtual". Eco Virtual.