Back presents a dreamlike variation on one of the most poetic motifs of Rene Magritte: l'oiseau de ciel, or sky-bird, whose shape, caught in mid-air, seems to have been cut out of the very environment in which it inhabits. The subject had first emerged in the artist's 1940 composition Le retour, now in the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, and later in Le baiser (1951) (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston). The motif had evolved when Magritte created Le baiser, depicting similar subjects to Le retour (circa 1950) but this time, completely reversing the previous scenario, with night replacing day in the bird's body, while the surrounding seascape remained bathed in the soft light of the overcast sky. As such, these two works can be considered pendant pieces, exploring a contrasting yet similar visual conundrum. Last seen publicly when it was auctioned at Christie's in 2004.
Le retour offered by Christie's will be on display in New York from 28 to 31 January and in Hong Kong from 7 to 10 February before being exhibited in London from 22 to 28 February 2023
The variation of one of Magritte's most recognized themes in Le retour provides a fascinating insight into his practice, especially in relation to his gouaches. While he sometimes created works on paper that were essentially reprises of subjects previously explored in oils, he explained to American collector Barnet Hodes that his works needed to be "rethought" rather than simply reproduced in gouache. The medium allowed him to spread his core visual ideas/concepts to a wider audience.
The color that allows him to convey the full meaning of the image, describing texture and weight, the smooth surface of the gouache that allows him to accentuate the surreality of the image and accentuate the cracks or leaps of logic at play in the composition. Over the course of his artistic career, Magritte became increasingly adept at converting his vision of the mysteries of the world into images that, through their iconic simplicity, conveyed their messages even more strikingly.
