Magritte

The Empire of lights

The exhibition brings to Italy the finest collection of the works of the surrealist genius René Magritte. The paintings are lent by the Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts in Belgium under the patronage of the Magritte Foundation in Bruxelles.

A series of masterpieces to which have been added canvasses from fine private international collections, as well as drawings, engravings, photographs and hand-written letters. 

The starting point for the exhibition is 1926, the year that Magritte gives as the date of his first surrealist work, and continues through to 1967, the year of his death. 
The Belgian painter, influenced by the metaphysical painter Giorgio De Chirico, creates a parallel world in his canvasses which invests every minutely depicted feature of daily life with a sense of the obscure and elusive such that the most common of objects take on the magic of divine simulacra. Villa Olmo is host to this exceptional collection of works by the Belgian painter before they move to their  home in April 2007 at the new Magritte Museum in Bruxelles. Among the works on show is the very famous Empire of lights, which lends its name to the exhibition itself, and outstanding works such as Magie noire, Le Joueur secret, Le Retour, La Naissance de l’idole and many others.