René Magritte's Newly Discovered Work, 'Catalogue Raisonné VI,' Uncovers His Dirty Side (PHOTOS, NSFW)

Ceci N'Est Pas Appropriate For Work

You might associate the retort "Not!" from its heyday in the 1990s, but long ago René Magritte used that three letter negator to create a resonant statement about language, art and representation. His iconic painting "The Treachery of Images (This Is Not A Pipe)" proposed a rupture between reality and image that has continued to puzzle and inspire artists to this day. While the cryptic pipe painting sure is a strange one, a series of newly discovered and sexy-weird works make Magritte's not-pipe seem almost bland.

Following the publication of a five-volume opus of Magritte's work twelve years ago, hundreds of potential Magrittes were shipped to the Magritte Foundation for examination. According the Art News, the foundation had to create a new committee to scour the works. After tossing the fakes, the team was left with so much art they decided to let loose 130 of the famous Belgian's newly discovered and especially off-kilter works. (You can see a few examples below.)

Six Dessins pour Madame Edwarda (1946); Six drawings for Madame Edwarda. Collection privée / Privéverzameling / Private collection.

La malédiction (1936/1937), De vervloeking, The curse and Le viol (1945), De verkrachting, The Rape, Artsquare B.M./S.D.C. © 2012 C. Herscovici, London / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Many of the works scream Magritte, incorporating his traditional motifs like bowler hats, clouds and trickster architecture. Yet some of the pieces reach a whole new level of weird, including an erotic series of dirty doodles that are definitely not for the prudish. Let us know how your are coping with seeing a whole new side of Magritte in the comments.

Check out the artist being a bit more mainstream via his commercial posters below:

magritte

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