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Lot Essay
Although the man with the bowler hat is present in Magritte's earliest Surrealist works, the artist developed the character primarily from 1950 onwards. The figure--Magritte's persona--moves through the pictures with anonymity, his only concrete quality being his recognizable form. Sylvester records, "Mesens has told me how Magritte made a point of never buying himself a stylish bowler, one that would best suit his face, but always a standardised, indifferent product, allowing no intervention of preference or taste" (D. Sylvester, Magritte, exh. cat., Tate Gallery, London, 1969, p. 14).
In Le journal intime, the silhouette of the bowler-hatted man is filled with sky and clouds--as if he were transparent or reflective. His back is turned and he appears to be confronting an abstract abyss before him. The only realistically rendered object in the entire image is the enigmatic bell at his feet.
Isolated and detached, the man with the bowler hat would seem to be lost in contemplation. Perhaps this kind of poetic reverie is what Magritte intended to imply in the title Private Diary. Magritte also used this title for an unrelated oil painting of 1951 (Sylvester, no. 761; private collection).
In Le journal intime, the silhouette of the bowler-hatted man is filled with sky and clouds--as if he were transparent or reflective. His back is turned and he appears to be confronting an abstract abyss before him. The only realistically rendered object in the entire image is the enigmatic bell at his feet.
Isolated and detached, the man with the bowler hat would seem to be lost in contemplation. Perhaps this kind of poetic reverie is what Magritte intended to imply in the title Private Diary. Magritte also used this title for an unrelated oil painting of 1951 (Sylvester, no. 761; private collection).