#40 La Lunette d'approche

When asked
what colour he
would use
to depict infinity
Magritte declined
to answer. "No
point in asking me"
he said. "Today
my birds are green,
yesterday they
were blue. I have
no idea what they'll
be tomorrow. Best
ask Georgette. She's
the one in the family
who has the better
distance vision. She'll be
posing, peering past
me; & suddenly
she'll say 'Instead of
a cabinet in the wall
behind why not a
window? It would
make the room
seem so much
larger, & I could
look out to the sea.'
& she's right, as
always, so of course
I do what she asks.
But only in a painting,
& with an infinite
blackness still behind."

#39 Familiar Objects

Floating objects are a
common enough theme
in the paintings of
Magritte. Over-
done it could almost
be said; but not quite
since suspension
requires a suspension
of belief, & each painting
is refreshed & re-
freshing, creating
its own unique
atmospheric pressures,
a re-awakening
of surprise. Here
we have a singular
form seen from
multiple aspects; & in the air
the singularity
of multiple objects
that have no right
to be there, held
in suspense by
a single held-
in breath.