Monday 18 November 2013

Day 322 : Ceci n’est pas une Magritte! Or is it?

I'm spending more time than usual at one of my clients and on their twelve floor they have a piece of art that I've been very intrigued by hanging on a striking green wall. In a previous life I'd visit Paris quite regularly with work and if I opted to stay over the weekend the Pompidou Centre and Musee d’Orsay would always be on my must-visit list. It was in the Pompidou Centre and again at the fabulous little museum shop around the corner that I was struck by the Belgian surrealist. I collected possibly my very earliest fridge magnets (now my collection is extensive) from that shop and the infamous pipe, the bowler hat, the umbrella with a glass of water balanced on top and the bowler hatted gent with his face obscured by a giant apple have graced my various fridges since.

Imagine my surprise to see this homage to Magritte’s Son of Man. Many of my clients have extensive art collections and they are very much the originals. But this one perplexes me, it's like Son of Man but with the addition of another of Magritte’s motifs - umbrellas. I can't find a mention to this version anywhere but it doesn't mean it’s not genuine, and many of Magritte’s works don't appear to be signed. Maybe it's an elaborate pastiche, this particular piece has been very much copied particularly in advertising, perhaps this is someone who works here. They can definitely afford a real Magritte if they wanted one, but is this one?

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