Léontine Hoyez-Berger, Belgium (the sister of the sitter, a gift from the artist)
Georgette Magritte, Belgium (by descent from the above in 1980; sale: Sotheby's, London, The Remaining Contents of the Studio of René Magritte, 2nd July 1987, lot 824)
Private Collection, United States (purchased at the above sale; sale: Sotheby's, London, 9th February 2005, lot 503)
Sale: Christie's, London, 5th February 2008, lot 398
Sale: Est-Ouest Auctions Co., Ltd., Hong Kong, 27th May 2011, lot 1006
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Harry Toczyner, René Magritte, Ideas and Images, New York , 1977, no. 429, illustrated p. 195
Barbara Stoeltie, 'After Magritte' in The World of Interiors, London, April 1986, n.n., illustrated p. 143
Jacques Meuris, René Magritte, London, 1988, no. 74, illustrated p. 50
David Sylvester, René Magritte, Catalogue raisonné, oil paintings and objects: 1931-1948, New York, 1993, no. 570, illustrated p. 346

The canvas is not lined. UV examination reveals fine lines of scattered retouchings, predominantly around the sitter's face and in the right half of the composition. Otherwise this work is in overall good condition.
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Portrait de Georgette Magritte is a powerfully rendered representation of René Magritte’s beloved wife, Georgette. The couple met as children in the town of Charleroi a few kilometres south of Brussels but lost contact after the First World War broke out. They were reunited in 1920 by a chance meeting in the Brussels botanical gardens and married on 28^th June 1922. Georgette often acted as her husband’s muse; in this case the swirling mist surrounding her is juxtaposed with the poised, graceful portrait.  This collusion of a chaotic, vibrant backdrop and calm, composed subjects was applied in a series of four other portraits Magritte executed in 1944. His portraits of Jacqueline Nonkels, Lou Cosyn and Eliane Peeters are also all painted in a vignette form with the tranquil sitter drawing the viewer into the centre of the work where a ‘vigorous facture’ of brushstrokes surrounds them possibly alluding to the political turmoil of the time (David Sylvester (ed.),  René Magritte. Catalogué raisonné, Oil Paintings, Objects and Bronzes, London, 1993, vol. II, p. 347).

David Sylvester records learning from Georgette Magritte that ‘this undated portrait… was painted from life and was done as a present for her sister Léontine Hoyez-Berger. It is one of only four canvases in which Magritte carried out to the letter his avowed intention to make images in vignette form… in the late summer of 1944. It passed by succession to Georgette Magritte on her sister’s death’ (Ibid., p. 346).

The present work falls into the artist’s ‘Renoir’ period where he adopted a more painterly style than he had used previously, employing many of the artistic techniques of impressionism. This stemmed from Magritte’s feelings of alienation, hopelessness and abandonment as he lived in Nazi-occupied Belgium. The artist sought to combat these emotions and react to the political situation with artworks emphasising a more traditional beauty. Portrait de Georgette Magritte thus encapsulates a unique period in the artist’s œuvre, illustrating his creative flexibility and technical prowe♚ss, and is thoroughly entwined with both his peℱrsonal life and the world in which it was created.