The Treachery of Images (This is Not a Pipe) (La trahison des images [Ceci n'est pas une pipe])

* Nearly 20,000 images of artworks the museum believes to be in the public domain are available to download on this site. Other images may be protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights. By using any of these images you agree to LACMA's Terms of Use.

The Treachery of Images (This is Not a Pipe) (La trahison des images [Ceci n'est pas une pipe])

Belgium, 1929
Paintings
Oil on canvas
23 3/4 × 31 15/16 × 1 in.
Purchased with funds provided by the Mr. and Mrs. William Preston Harrison Collection (78.7)
Currently on public view:
Broad Contemporary Art Museum, floor 3

Since gallery displays may change often, please contact us before you visit to make certain this item is on view.

Label

The Treachery of Images (This is Not a Pipe) is considered a Magritte masterpiece, a key Surrealist work, and an icon of modern art....
The Treachery of Images (This is Not a Pipe) is considered a Magritte masterpiece, a key Surrealist work, and an icon of modern art. A treatise on the impossibility of reconciling word, image, and object, it challenges the convention of identifying an image of an object as the thing itself. Presented in the style of an advertisement, with the neat cursive text forming a slogan-like caption under the image of the pipe, the painting prompts the viewer to ponder its conflicting messages. Magritte’s enigmatic use of text influenced a younger generation of artists, including John Baldessari, Marcel Broodthaers, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, and Ed Ruscha.

Wall label, 2021.
More...

Bibliography

  • Lash, Miranda. Photorealism: Beginnings to Today: The Sydney and Walda Besthoff Collection. New York: Scala Art Publishers; New Orleans: New Orleans Museum of Art, 2014.
  • Arnason, H.H., and Marla F. Prather. History of Modern Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Photography. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1998.

  • Lash, Miranda. Photorealism: Beginnings to Today: The Sydney and Walda Besthoff Collection. New York: Scala Art Publishers; New Orleans: New Orleans Museum of Art, 2014.
  • Arnason, H.H., and Marla F. Prather. History of Modern Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Photography. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1998.

  • Ed Ruscha: Ribbon Words. New York: Edward Tyler Hahem, 2016.
  • Engler, Martin, ed. John Baldessari: The Städel Paintings. Munich: Hirmer, 2015.

  • Haskell, Caitlin. René Magritte: The Fifth Season. San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2018.
  • Lipinski, Lisa. René Magritte and the Art of Thinking. New York: Routledge, 2019.
  • Zweite, Armin. Arakawa: Bilder und Zeichnungen 1962-1981. München: Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, 1981.

  • Zweite, Armin. Arakawa, Bilder und Zeichnungen 1962-1981. München: Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, 1981.

  • Wallin, Hans Erik, Uffe Harder, and Hugo Arne Buch, eds. René Magritte. Humlebaek: Louisiana, 1983.
  • Price, Lorna.  Masterpieces from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  Los Angeles:  Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1988.
  • Freeman, Judi. The Dada & Surrealist Word Image. Los Angeles:  Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1989.
  • Los Angeles County Museum of Art Members' Calendar 1990.  vol. 27-28, no. 12-1 (December, 1989-January, 1991).
  • Sylvester, David, and Sarah Whitfield. René Magritte: Catalogue Raisonné. Edited by David Sylvester. Houston and London: Menil Foundation and Philip Wilson Publishers, 1992.
  • Frank, Patrick; Preble, Duane; and Preble, Sarah.  Artforms: An Introduction to the Visual Arts.  Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1999.
  • Siegfried, Gohr.  Magritte. San Francisco:  San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2000.
  • Edson, Laurie.  Reading Relationally.  Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2000.
  • Nesbit, Molly.  Their Common Sense.  London: Black Dog Publishing, 2000.
  • Green, Christopher.  Art in France: 1900-1940.  Yale University Press Pelican History of Art, 2000.
  • Cartwright, Lisa and Sturken, Marita.  Practices of Looking: an Introduction to Visual Culture.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
  • Adams, Laurie Schneider.  Art Across Time.  New York: McGraw Hill, 2001.
  • Dyrness, William A.  Visual Faith: Art, Theology, and Worship in Dialogue.  Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House Company, 2001.
  • Peers, Glenn.  Subtle Bodies: Representing Angels in Byzantium (The Transformation of the Classical Heritage).  Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001.
  • Rothfield, Lawrence, ed.  Unsettling "Sensation": Arts-Policy Lessons from the Brooklyn Museum of Art Controversy.  New Brunswick, New Jersey, and London: Rutgers University Press, 2001.
  • Ernst Klett Verlag.  Moderne Kunst.  Stuttgart: Ernst Klett Verlag, 2001.
  • Douglass, Colleen.  "Can You Trust What You See?"  The Christian Science Journal 119 (6): 38 (June 2001).
  • SURREAL: "René Magritte".  Bergmann, Rudij, Director.  Sunshine TV Productions, Produer.  Television, videocassette, videodisc and DVD: 2002.
  • Velasquez, Manuel.  Philosophy: A Text with Readings.  Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Group, 2002.
  • Craig, Alan B. and Sherman, William R.  Understanding Virtual Reality: Interface, Application, and Design.  San Francisco: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, Inc., 2002.
  • Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  New York: Thames and Hudson, 2003.
  • Barron, Stephanie, Michel Draguet, and Sara Cochran. Magritte and Contemporary Art: The Treachery of Images. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Belgium: Ludion, 2006.
  • Umland, Anne, ed. Magritte: the Mystery of the Ordinary, 1926-1938. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 2013.
  • Eliel, Carol. John Altoon. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art and DelMonico Books/Prestel, 2014.
  • The Bergman Collection. New York: Christie's, 2014.
  • Stäuble, Claudia, ed. The Paintings That Revolutionized Art. Munich: Prestel, 2015. 
  • Muchnic, Suzanne. LACMA So Far: Portrait of a Museum in the Making. San Marino, California: Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, 2015.
  • Fletcher, Valerie J. Marvelous Objects: Surrealist Sculpture from Paris to New York. Washington, DC: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, 2015.
  • Zalman, Sandra. Consuming Surrealism in American Culture: Dissident Modernism. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2015.
  • Borja-Villel, Manuel J. and Christophe Cherix. Marcel Broodthaers: a Retrospective. New York: The Museum of Modern Art; Madrid: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, 2016.
  • Ottinger, Didier, ed. Magritte: The Treachery of Images. Munich: Prestel Verlag, 2017.
  • Barron, Stephanie. Acknowledgments, or Every Label Tells a Story. Los Angeles: Art Catalogues: LACMA, 2017.
  • Engberg, Siri, ed. Allen Ruppersberg: Intellectual Property 1968-2018. Minneapolis: Walker Art Center, 2018.
  • Polly Apfelbaum: Waiting for the UFOs (a Space Set Between a Landscape and a Bunch of Flowers). Kansas City, Missouri: Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, 2019.

  • Claes, Marie, Paul Demets, Kurt De Boodt, Ann Geeraerts, Franz-W Kaiser. Roger Raveel: Retrospection. Brussels: Mercatorfonds, 2021.
  • Eleey, Peter, Robyn Farrell, Michael Govan, Rebecca Morse, James Rondeau, eds. Barbara Kruger: Thinking of You, I Mean Me, I Mean You. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Munich ; New York: DelMonico Books·D.A.P., 2021.
  • "2005-2006 Selected Acquisitions." LACMA Insider 4, no.1 (2006): 4-7.

More...