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The Empire of Light
by René Magritte, 1954
StyleSurrealism
Artwork Details
Details
- Year
- 1954
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Size
- 146 cm × 114 cm
Cite or Embed This Work
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René Magritte created multiple versions of this disorienting scene, which shows a nighttime street beneath a bright daytime sky. The contradiction is subtle enough that viewers often need a moment to register what's wrong. Once noticed, the impossibility becomes deeply unsettling.
The image features a darkened house with glowing windows, silhouetted trees, and a lamppost against a blue sky filled with fluffy white clouds. Magritte painted at least 27 versions of this concept between 1949 and 1964, each exploring the tension between day and night existing simultaneously. The juxtaposition feels dreamlike without depicting anything fantastic.
Various versions reside in museums worldwide, including the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
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About The Empire of Light
The painting shows day and night simultaneously. The street below sits in darkness while the sky above displays bright afternoon clouds. Magritte called this "a conjunction of familiar things in an unusual order."
Magritte painted at least 27 versions between 1949 and 1964. Each explores the same paradox with slight variations in composition and detail.
Different versions hang at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, MoMA in New York, and the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium. Several remain in private collections.
The work belongs to Surrealism, though Magritte disliked the term. He preferred "magic realism," as his impossible scenes use realistic technique rather than abstract distortion.
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