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Mollusc block
Glass urn from the Necropolis of via Cavour, Biella
Vasi Piroga
Cinerary urn and cerrione necropolis equipment
Mummy sarcophagus
Bowl with two hummingbirds
Statuette of coquero
Clay bowl imitating a pumpkin
Anthropomorphic bottle warrior moche
Male figure
Female statuette of a praying woman
Campaniforma Jar
Clay head with almond-shaped eyes and headdress
Sunshine
Virgin of the Rocks copy from Leonardo
Mountain landscape with cows
Madonna with child
Triptych Virgin of the Rocks copy from Leonardo
Marina
The drummer
The sleep test
Reflections of a hungry
Between colors and vapors
Judith and Holofernes
Monument to Lorenzo Delleani
Mollusc block
Glass urn from the Necropolis of via Cavour, Biella
Vasi Piroga
Cinerary urn and cerrione necropolis equipment
Mummy sarcophagus
Bowl with two hummingbirds
Statuette of coquero
Clay bowl imitating a pumpkin
Anthropomorphic bottle warrior moche
Male figure
Female statuette of a praying woman
Campaniforma Jar
Clay head with almond-shaped eyes and headdress
Sunshine
Virgin of the Rocks copy from Leonardo
Mountain landscape with cows
Madonna with child
Triptych Virgin of the Rocks copy from Leonardo
Marina
The drummer
The sleep test
Reflections of a hungry
Between colors and vapors
Judith and Holofernes
Monument to Lorenzo Delleani

The sleep test

Renè Magritte

Displayed in:

Biellese Territory Museum

Biellese Territory Museum

Via Q. Sella, 54/b, Biella

Temporarily closed

Verified profile

The canvas exhibited here is one of the first works in which the famous Belgian artist interprets surrealist poetics with a personal language, addressing the theme of sleep. L’épreuve du sommeil, or The trial of sleep, is the title chosen for this work, dated between the end of 1926 and the beginning of the following year. The head of a woman lying with the nape facing the viewer is framed from a very close observation point, which excludes the rest of the body and the furnishings of the room from the field of representation, except for a white cloth. It is on this element that the critics have focused, attributing different meanings to it, linking it to biographical events - such as the traumatic memory of the suicide of the mother, drowned in a canal and fished out with her face covered by her clothes - or interpreting it as a quote from a 'work by Man Ray of 1920, consisting of a sewing machine packed in a blanket that hid its shape, thus underlining Magritte's desire to update himself on the novelties proposed by the Parisian surrealists. Will that also emerges in the detail of the female hair made with a comb technique, already proposed by Max Ernst in some of his works. Magritte wrote in his own hand with a brush on the back of the canvas, as was his custom, the title of the work, which was exhibited in Brussels in 1927 at the artist's first solo exhibition.
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Details

Title: The sleep test

Author: Renè Magritte

Date: 1926 - 27

Technique: Oil painting on canvas

Displayed in: Biellese Territory Museum

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