The False Mirror Explained

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]}

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]

See also

• List of paintings by René Magritte
• 1928 in art

Notes and References

1. Book: Brater, Enoch . Beyond Minimalism: Beckett's Late Style in the Theater. 27 December 1990. Oxford University Press. 978-0-19-536203-9. 76–.
2. Book: David Adam . Brubaker. Chunchen Wang. Wang Chunchen . Jizi and His Art in Contemporary China: Unification . 12 February 2015. Springer. 978-3-662-44929-5. 81–.
3. Book: Roberts, Helene E. . Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography: Themes Depicted in Works of Art. 5 September 2013. Routledge. 978-1-136-78793-5. 607–.
4. Book: Didier Maleuvre. The Horizon: A History of Our Infinite Longing. 15 February 2011. University of California Press. 978-0-520-94711-5. 294–.
5. Book: Michael Elsohn Ross. Salvador Dalí and the Surrealists: Their Lives and Ideas, 21 Activities. 1 September 2003. Chicago Review Press. 978-1-61374-275-4. 53–.
6. Book: Gregory Minissale. Framing Consciousness in Art: Transcultural Perspectives. January 2009. Rodopi. 978-90-420-2581-3. 374–.
7. Book: Patricia Allmer. Hilde van Gelder. Collective Inventions: Surrealism in Belgium. 2007. Cornell University Press. 978-90-5867-592-7.
8. Book: Patrick Roegiers. Magritte and Photography. 2005. Distributed Art Pub Incorporated. 978-90-5544-562-2.
9. Book: Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.). MoMA Highlights: 350 Works from The Museum of Modern Art, New York. 1 June 2013. The Museum of Modern Art. 978-0-87070-846-6. 89–.
10. Book: Rebecca Houze. New Mythologies in Design and Culture: Reading Signs and Symbols in the Visual Landscape. 19 May 2016. Bloomsbury Publishing. 978-1-4725-1849-1. 89–.
11. Web site: René Magritte. The False Mirror. Paris 1929 | MoMA. The Museum of Modern Art.
12. Book: René Magritte. The Portable Magritte. 2002. Universe. 978-0-7893-0665-4.
13. Book: Jacques Meuris. René Magritte. Magritte. 1994. Taschen. 978-3-8228-0546-6.
14. Web site: René Magritte (1898-1967). www.christies.com.
15. Book: Richard D. Zakia. Perception and Imaging: Photography--A Way of Seeing. 11 February 2013. Taylor & Francis. 978-1-136-09237-4. 320–.
16. Book: Maurice Berger. Revolution of the Eye: Modern Art and the Birth of American Television. registration. 2014. Yale University Press. 978-0-300-20793-4. 31–.
17. Web site: After 64 years, the "Eye" still resonates. www.cbsnews.com. 23 October 2015 .
18. Web site: René Magritte: The artist who turned the world on its head. www.telegraph.co.uk. 20 June 2011 .
19. Web site: Exhibit puts Magritte's work firmly back in art world. Mark. Caro. chicagotribune.com. 17 June 2014 .
20. Web site: ATMOSPHERES 第2, by Eco Virtual. Eco Virtual.