René Magritte
The Treachery of Images (This is Not a Pipe) (La trahison des images [Ceci n'est pas une pipe])1929

On view:

Broad Contemporary Art Museum, floor 3

Oil painting of a brown smoking pipe against a beige background, with cursive French text reading "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" below

Artist or Maker: René Magritte
Belgium, 1898-1967
Title: The Treachery of Images (This is Not a Pipe) (La trahison des images [Ceci n'est pas une pipe])
Place Made: Belgium
Date Made: 1929
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 23 3/4 × 31 15/16 × 1 in.
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Mr. and Mrs. William Preston Harrison Collection
Accession Number: 78.7
Classification: Paintings
Collecting Area: Modern Art
Curatorial Notes: 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.
Provenance: The artist (1898-1967), Paris and Brussels; [Galerie Le Centaure, Brussels]; sold in 1932 to E. L. T. Mesens (1903-1971), London; sold in 1957 to William (1919-1996) and Noma (1916-2006) Copley; [sold at auction in 1978 at Sotheby’s Parke-Bernet, New York May 17, 1978, Sale No. 4124, Lot 70]; to LACMA.
Selected Bibliography: Peers, Glenn. Subtle Bodies: Representing Angels in Byzantium (The Transformation of the Classical Heritage). Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001.
Price, Lorna. Masterpieces from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1988.
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.
Siegfried, Gohr. Magritte. San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 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.
Velasquez, Manuel. Philosophy: A Text with Readings. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Group, 2002.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. New York: Thames and Hudson, 2003.
Sylvester, David, and Sarah Whitfield. René Magritte: Catalogue Raisonné. Edited by David Sylvester. Houston and London: Menil Foundation and Philip Wilson Publishers, 1992.
Cartwright, Lisa and Sturken, Marita. Practices of Looking: an Introduction to Visual Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Freeman, Judi. The Dada & Surrealist Word Image. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1989.
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.
Douglass, Colleen. "Can You Trust What You See?" The Christian Science Journal 119 (6): 38 (June 2001).
Edson, Laurie. Reading Relationally. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2000.
Frank, Patrick; Preble, Duane; and Preble, Sarah. Artforms: An Introduction to the Visual Arts. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1999.
Craig, Alan B. and Sherman, William R. Understanding Virtual Reality: Interface, Application, and Design. San Francisco: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, Inc., 2002.
Ernst Klett Verlag. Moderne Kunst. Stuttgart: Ernst Klett Verlag, 2001.
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.
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.
"2005-2006 Selected Acquisitions." LACMA Insider 4, no.1 (2006): 4-7.
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.
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.
Zalman, Sandra. Consuming Surrealism in American Culture: Dissident Modernism. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2015.
Ed Ruscha: Ribbon Words. New York: Edward Tyler Hahem, 2016.
Engler, Martin, ed. John Baldessari: The Städel Paintings. Munich: Hirmer, 2015.
Ottinger, Didier, ed. Magritte: The Treachery of Images. Munich: Prestel Verlag, 2017.
Haskell, Caitlin. René Magritte: The Fifth Season. San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2018.
Engberg, Siri, ed. Allen Ruppersberg: Intellectual Property 1968-2018. Minneapolis: Walker Art Center, 2018.
Barron, Stephanie. Acknowledgments, or Every Label Tells a Story. Los Angeles: Art Catalogues: LACMA, 2017.
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.
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.
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.
Wallin, Hans Erik, Uffe Harder, and Hugo Arne Buch, eds. René Magritte. Humlebaek: Louisiana, 1983.
Cherix, Christophe, Ana Torok, and Kiko Aebi. Ed Ruscha - Now Then: A Retrospective. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2023.
Copyright: © C. Herscovici/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Related Unframed

René Magritte
The Treachery of Images (This is Not a Pipe) (La trahison des images [Ceci n'est pas une pipe])1929

On view:

Broad Contemporary Art Museum, floor 3

Artist or Maker: René Magritte
Belgium, 1898-1967
Title: The Treachery of Images (This is Not a Pipe) (La trahison des images [Ceci n'est pas une pipe])
Place Made: Belgium
Date Made: 1929
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 23 3/4 × 31 15/16 × 1 in.
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Mr. and Mrs. William Preston Harrison Collection
Accession Number: 78.7
Classification: Paintings
Collecting Area: Modern Art
Curatorial Notes: 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.
Provenance: The artist (1898-1967), Paris and Brussels; [Galerie Le Centaure, Brussels]; sold in 1932 to E. L. T. Mesens (1903-1971), London; sold in 1957 to William (1919-1996) and Noma (1916-2006) Copley; [sold at auction in 1978 at Sotheby’s Parke-Bernet, New York May 17, 1978, Sale No. 4124, Lot 70]; to LACMA.
Selected Bibliography: Peers, Glenn. Subtle Bodies: Representing Angels in Byzantium (The Transformation of the Classical Heritage). Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001.
Price, Lorna. Masterpieces from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1988.
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.
Siegfried, Gohr. Magritte. San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 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.
Velasquez, Manuel. Philosophy: A Text with Readings. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Group, 2002.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. New York: Thames and Hudson, 2003.
Sylvester, David, and Sarah Whitfield. René Magritte: Catalogue Raisonné. Edited by David Sylvester. Houston and London: Menil Foundation and Philip Wilson Publishers, 1992.
Cartwright, Lisa and Sturken, Marita. Practices of Looking: an Introduction to Visual Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Freeman, Judi. The Dada & Surrealist Word Image. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1989.
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.
Douglass, Colleen. "Can You Trust What You See?" The Christian Science Journal 119 (6): 38 (June 2001).
Edson, Laurie. Reading Relationally. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2000.
Frank, Patrick; Preble, Duane; and Preble, Sarah. Artforms: An Introduction to the Visual Arts. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1999.
Craig, Alan B. and Sherman, William R. Understanding Virtual Reality: Interface, Application, and Design. San Francisco: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, Inc., 2002.
Ernst Klett Verlag. Moderne Kunst. Stuttgart: Ernst Klett Verlag, 2001.
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.
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.
"2005-2006 Selected Acquisitions." LACMA Insider 4, no.1 (2006): 4-7.
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.
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.
Zalman, Sandra. Consuming Surrealism in American Culture: Dissident Modernism. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2015.
Ed Ruscha: Ribbon Words. New York: Edward Tyler Hahem, 2016.
Engler, Martin, ed. John Baldessari: The Städel Paintings. Munich: Hirmer, 2015.
Ottinger, Didier, ed. Magritte: The Treachery of Images. Munich: Prestel Verlag, 2017.
Haskell, Caitlin. René Magritte: The Fifth Season. San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2018.
Engberg, Siri, ed. Allen Ruppersberg: Intellectual Property 1968-2018. Minneapolis: Walker Art Center, 2018.
Barron, Stephanie. Acknowledgments, or Every Label Tells a Story. Los Angeles: Art Catalogues: LACMA, 2017.
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.
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.
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.
Wallin, Hans Erik, Uffe Harder, and Hugo Arne Buch, eds. René Magritte. Humlebaek: Louisiana, 1983.
Cherix, Christophe, Ana Torok, and Kiko Aebi. Ed Ruscha - Now Then: A Retrospective. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2023.
Copyright: © C. Herscovici/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Related Unframed

Four Decades of Installing the Modern Art Collection, 1976–2021

June 10, 2021
Stephanie Barron

The Art of Exchange

October 11, 2016
Katia Zavistovski

Artists on Art

August 22, 2016
Deirdre O'Dwyer

Magritte and the Trading of Images

September 9, 2013