Ce n'est pas une Banane Painting

This is how René Magritte responded to critics of his painting 'The Treachery of Images' otherwise known as 'Ceci n'est pas une pipe': '“The famous pipe. How people reproached me for it! And yet, could you stuff my pipe? No, it's just a representation, is it not? So if I had written on my picture 'This is a pipe', I'd have been lying." Of course, part of the pleasure of this one is playing with representation, illusion and symbol, but I also adore the material qualities of the objects. The differing sheen of the two apples, one polished, one dull. The green shade of yellow in the banana skin, almost all that lifts the banana from the warmer background yellows. And then there's the presence of the symbolic object, neither illusion nor reality but present only in the mind of the viewer. My favourite way to view this picture is upside down. For example it could just as easily be titled "The Anxiety Produced by Memories of a Gull Trapped Against a Ceiling." Since I've mentioned the symbolism within the painting, almost too strong a word for the playful intent, I'd better mention how it came about. In 2010 I had to return to Chester in a hurry, leaving behind the new life I'd forged for myself in Dundee, where I'd been settled for six months after living and working in Newcastle for the earlier part of the year. I returned with whatever I could carry and a few hundred pounds in my pocket, leaving everything else behind, the third or fourth time in my life I'd begun again from literally nothing more than I could carry. At some point I was staying with a friend for a few weeks, working on designs and images for a number of his projects. He's a photographer and impressario with, shall we say, a heightened sense of visual drama. I noticed the particular arrangment of a trio of organic looking ceramic pots among the many wonderful objects on display in his living room. Towards the end of my stay I asked if the arrangement was symbolic. He laughed and confirmed my suspicions about the tall gracefully curved pot flanked by two smaller vessels. I was struck by these secret symbols, 'hidden in plain sight' amongst his ornaments. The picture is an enduring favourite with audiences. During one of the periods when I hawked my pictures on the street, more than a hundred people stopped to photograph this picture on one day alone, making it, almost certainly, one of the most photographed paintings in Chester. And I'm in exalted company on this point, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio did exactly the same thing four hundred years earlier. Before his adoption by the great patrons* of art and science of his day, Caravaggio could be found selling his paintings in the streets and markets of Rome. * These included Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte who was also a patron of Galileo.

Painting:Oil on Paper

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:20.5 W x 31 H x 0.3 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.