Magritte in replica to Corot

Corot painted his Monsieur Pivot on Horseback, sometime between 1850 and 1855. The painting is now at the London National Gallery. It is Corot's only equestrian portrait.
There is a subtle tension, between the rider and the forest. Who is the observer? Who is watching whom? Is it this Monsieur Pivot observing the surrounding forest? Or is it the forest that's watching the solitaire rider?
Magritte came with his Carte Blanche to push further the question raised by the painting of Corot. The tension here is between reality and illusion - the question that is put by all works of Magritte.



The Carte Blanche was made in 1939. It is now at the Washington National Gallery of Art.
























(René Magritte)

(Corot)