René Magritte · 1953–54
The Empire of Light
Posters from $15 · Canvas from $39
A streetlamp-lit nocturnal house under a bright daytime sky — Magritte's quiet contradiction. Multiple versions; the Guggenheim canvas is shown.
Up to 24 × 16 in · landscape
Size
Larger sizes are unavailable for this painting because the source scan's resolution wouldn't print at gallery quality.
Format & finish
Archival cotton canvas stretched over a wooden frame. Ready to hang as-is. No external frame.
Scale next to a 5'10" person
+ tax at checkout
The story of The Empire of Light
The Empire of Light is the title of a succession of paintings by René Magritte. They depict the paradoxical image of a nocturnal landscape beneath a sunlit sky. He explored the theme in 27 paintings from the 1940s to the 1960s. The paintings were not planned as a formal series. They have never all been exhibited together and are rarely exhibited in smaller groups. The original French title, L'Empire des lumières is sometimes translated as singular, The Empire of Light,and sometimes as plural The Empire of Lights. Other translations include The Dominion of Light: making the distinction: "an empire exists in relation to a ruler, a dominion does not necessarily require this.”
Adapted from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
René Magritte
René François Ghislain Magritte was a Belgian surrealist artist known for his depictions of familiar objects in unfamiliar, unexpected contexts, which often provoked questions about the nature and boundaries of reality and representation. His imagery has influenced pop art, minimalist art, and conceptual art.
All René Magritte prints →Biography adapted from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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