Le plaisir - Kunstsammlung NRW / Online-Sammlung

Back

Information

Artist

René Magritte

1898
Lessines, Hennegau, Belgien

1967
Brüssel, Belgien

Work data

Material/Technique

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

Image: 73.5 × 98 × 2.5 cm
Frame: 98 × 122 × 7.5 cm

Signature

Bez. u.r.: "Magritte"

Accession Number

0192

Catalogue Raisonné

Sylvester 145

Acquisition year

1973

Provenance

Immediately after its creation in 1927, the painting “Le plaisir” by René Magritte was purchased by Paul-Gustave Van Hecke, owner of the Brussels gallery L’Epoque. It remained with him until Van Hecke had to liquidate his holdings due to financial difficulties and E.L.T. Mesens, a former employee of Van Hecke, purchased the work. The subsequent order of ownership is unclear. The work can be traced to a private collection in Brussels from at least 1965 to at least 1967, after which it was part of Gerrit L. Lansing’s collection from at least 1968 to at least 1970. The Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen purchased the painting “Le plaisir” from Marlborough Fine Art for its holdings in 1973.

Between 2009 and 2012, several freelance provenance researchers examined the origins (provenance) of all works in the collection of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen as part of a comprehensive research project funded by the German Lost Art Foundation. The focus was on all works created before 1945. For the painting “Le plaisir,” the ownership history during the National Socialist period (1933–1945) could not be fully clarified. For this reason, the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen commissioned a more in-depth investigation into the history of this work in 2025.

If you have any questions or information regarding this work, please contact us:
Dr. Vivien Trommer
Head of Collection
trommer@kunstsammlung.de

Credit line

Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf

Exhibitions

René Magritte, 29.6.-29.8.1990, Pro Museom, Liège/Musée de l'Art Moderne, Ostende
Magritte, 19.1.-22.4.1989, Fundacion Joan March, Madrid
Unser 20. Jahrhundert - Meisterwerke von Picasso bis Beuys, 14.7.-28.10.2000, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf
La Révolution surréaliste/Surrealismus 1919-1944. Dalí, Max Ernst, Magritte, Miró, Picasso ..., 19.7.-23.11.2002, K20 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf
La Révolution surréaliste/Surrealismus 1919-1944. Dalí, Max Ernst, Magritte, Miró, Picasso ..., 5.3.-23.6.2002, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
René Magritte - Die Kunst der Konversation, 22.11.1996-1.3.1997, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf
Silent Revolution - Eine neue Sammlungspräsentation, 26.2.-12.6.2010, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, K21 Ständehaus, Düsseldorf
La carte d'après Nature (Eröffnungsausstellung, Villa Paloma) / The Map According to Nature, 17.9.2010-21.2.2011, Nouveau Musée National de Monaco (Villa Paloma)
Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary, 1926-1938, 27.9.2013-11.10.2014, The Museum of Modern Art, New York/The Menil Collection, Houston/The Art Institute, Chicago
Behold the Man, 25.9.2016-16.1.2017, Museum de Fundatie, Paleis a/d Blijmarkt, Zwolle
The Savage Eye, 11.2.-7.5.2022, Munch Museet, Oslo
Welche Moderne? In- und Outsider der KIassischen Avantgarden, 5.5.2023-13.1.2024, Sprengel Museum Hannover