Magritte used this image to make the point that a painting does not express ideas but has the power to create them. The popularity of this image may be due in part to its calmness and lack of threat. It is not disturbing in the way that so many of Magritte's images are, yet it does challenge the natural order of things and may even be one of the most deliberate surrealist statements of his late years.

Provenance of the original artwork: Magritte Museum - The Royal Fine Arts Museum of Belgium, Brussels