#554 Les Deux Soeurs (1925)

The name the same as the
few years earlier de Chirico. 
Different subjects, though the
two pairs have a commonality. 

Both portrayed as if for visual 
merchandising — which is 
what they inherently are. The 
one — the implied mannequins — 

for dresses. The other for acc-
essories, as if for scarves, or 
necklaces. That's the macro 
view. The micro? Two sisters —

are they really? The de Chirico 
pair are differently colored, 
une rouge, une blanc. One 
fairly featureless — bald, eye-



less; the other with hair & 
mask-like features, dark open-
ings that might serve as eyes. 
Enigmatic, like a major part of 

the painter's work, & nothing
sisterly-seeming about them. 
Then the Magritte . . .Closing 
the eyes. As simple an act. That

is what Amiri Baraka wrote 
years later, about a totally
different subject. Are these
sisters? Or could they both

be Magritte's muse, his wife
Georgette? Quite possibly so.
But more simply, a question to 
be asked but never answered.

#553 Le Double Vue

He is standing in front of
a forest. He is wearing a
bowler hat, holding a rose
in his hand. Those aspects
have been used before, but 
not necessarily all three to-
gether. He sees only what 
is in front of him. The other 
is standing behind him, the
forest obscured or, at best,
on the periphery of their vis-
ion. Sees mainly the clothing,
the bowler hat, the coat, e-
nough to recognize who it is 
in front of them. The rose held
up near the right ear they have
never seen before. That is the
aspect they will remember.