Experts are extremely excited to discover the portrait of a woman hidden beneath another painting by the surrealist artist Rene Magritte – the painting “La Cinquieme Saison” (The Fifth Season).
This mysterious portrait depicts a woman, seemingly the wife of the renowned surrealist painter Rene Magritte, and was recently uncovered during research on his works.
La Cinquieme Saison by surrealist artist Rene Magritte. (Source: Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium).
This is a valuable discovery regarding the Belgian artist, of whom very little information is available.
The portrait has been hidden beneath another work for the past 80 years and was only discovered through modern techniques.
Specifically, experts were thrilled to uncover the portrait of a woman, hidden beneath another painting by Rene Magritte – the “La Cinquieme Saison” (The Fifth Season), painted in 1943, which is currently held at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium (RMFAB) in Brussels.
This discovery was made possible using infrared reflectography, which allows us to “see” through layers of paint that are invisible to the naked eye.
The identity of the figure in the portrait closely resembles that of his wife, Georgette, Magritte’s “muse.”
Black and white image from X-ray. (Source: Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium).
The X-ray image bears a strong resemblance to the “Magritte” painting of Georgette, featuring an unwavering gaze from 1934 – the Georgette Magritte, which is currently stored at RMFAB.
Georgette and the renowned painter Magritte met in 1920 at an art supply store, where she was a sales clerk and he frequently visited to purchase paint. They married in 1922, and she became the subject of many of his works.
Letters that have survived to this day reveal that they shared a beautiful love story that lasted for decades (a fact that singer Paul Simon celebrated in his song “Rene And Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After The War” composed in 1983).
Ultimately, she became the sole overseer of his estate and maintained a good relationship with the Brussels museum.
When she passed away in 1986, she left behind seven paintings for RMFAB, including another portrait he painted of her in 1937.
Catherine Defeyt, a senior researcher at the University of Liege, and Francisca Vandepitte, who oversees modern art at RMFAB, are responsible for the new research on Magritte’s paintings.
This study reexamined 50 paintings by Magritte created between 1921 and 1967 using chemical and light technology.
Researcher Defeyt commented: “We believe that Magritte painted this portrait, there is no doubt about that.”
This discovery will be included in their upcoming book titled “Rene Magritte: The Artist’s Materials,” set to be published by the Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles (USA) this August.
In one passage, they noted that the pale yellow in the underlying layer, coinciding with the hair of the hidden woman, indicates that the figure in the portrait has blonde hair: “Similarly, a bright red color of the lips can be observed in the upper layer of paint, right in the middle of the work. Although Georgette has brown hair, the oval face, nose, and model’s hairstyle fit her appearance.”
The reason why the renowned painter Magritte painted over the portrait of the woman remains an “enigma.”
Dr. Thomas Learner at the Getty Conservation Institute shared: “Although there have been numerous technical examinations of artworks revealing a second image hidden beneath the surface of the painting, we are still thrilled to discover this case. Here, the image captured using infrared reflectography is clear and prominent enough to enhance the likelihood of identifying the model.”
He added: “We are delighted that Dr. Defeyt and her colleagues have agreed to publish their work on Magritte in the Getty’s Artist Materials series. We hope this new discovery will attract further interest in the materials and techniques of this renowned artist.”
