La Corde Sensible (1979)

Artist: René Magritte
Title: La Corde Sensible
Series: La Philosophie de la Peinture
Year: 1979 (posthumous)
Medium: Lithograph in colours after paintings by the artist
Dimensions: 73.6 × 53 cm (28 7/8 × 20 7/8 in)
Edition: XL (40) — Roman numerals, signed by Georgette Magritte
Signature: Signed “Magritte” by Georgette Magritte lower right; printed signature of the artist in plate
Authentication: Certificate of Authenticity
Type: Limited edition lithograph — posthumous authorised edition

Description:

La Corde Sensible (1979) — “The Heartstring” — is one of the most formally serene and conceptually precise images in Magritte’s entire catalogue: a transparent glass coupe, its stem planted in a vast open landscape of green meadows and distant mountains under a blue sky, its bowl filled not with wine but with a single perfect cumulus cloud. The substitution is characteristic Magritte: the container and the contained are wrong in the most logically exact way possible, the glass performing its function of holding while the cloud performs its function of existing, and the two propositions together producing something that is simultaneously completely impossible and completely natural.

The image belongs to Magritte’s sustained interrogation of the relationship between objects and the spaces they occupy — the same philosophical territory as The Treachery of Images (“This is not a pipe”), Golconde, and The Son of Man. Here, the cloud — Magritte’s most personal meteorological element, the form that appears in more of his paintings than any other single motif — is domesticated into a vessel while the landscape behind it remains entirely ordinary, the Belgian countryside rendered with the academic precision and the slightly hallucinatory clarity that defines his pictorial method.

This lithograph in colours is from the series La Philosophie de la Peinture, executed after Magritte’s paintings and published posthumously in 1979 — twelve years after his death — in a limited edition in Roman numerals, signed by Georgette Magritte, the artist’s wife, whose authentication of posthumous editions was a recognised and documented practice. The printed signature of the artist appears in the plate

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FAQ

Is this an original Magritte lithograph?
Yes — an original lithograph in colours from the posthumous authorised series La Philosophie de la Peinture (1979), signed by Georgette Magritte and numbered in Roman numerals, with the artist’s printed signature in plate.

Why is the work signed by Georgette Magritte?
Georgette Magritte — the artist’s wife — signed posthumous editions on his behalf, a documented and recognised authentication practice for works in this series.

What is La Philosophie de la Peinture?
A posthumous series of lithographs in colours executed after Magritte’s paintings, published in 1979 — twelve years after his death — as an authorised edition presenting his most celebrated images in fine art lithographic form.

What is the edition size?
The edition is in Roman numerals — a designation reserved for the most exclusive category of impressions within a publication.

What does “La Corde Sensible” mean?
“The Heartstring” — a French expression referring to the emotional chord that is struck by something deeply felt, here applied to a composition of extraordinary visual and philosophical calm.

Do you ship internationally?
Yes — worldwide, with museum-grade flat packaging, full insurance, and shipment tracking.

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