This mysterious image of a mighty, leafy tree transformed into a cylindrical cupboard with a white ball and illuminated house reveals the lasting impact of the Italian painter Giorgio de Chirico's pittura metafisica on Magritte's work. Indeed, David Sylvester refers to Magritte's discovery of de Chirico's Le Chant d'Amour, 1914, as "one of the famous epiphanies in the hagiography of modern painting".

"The words dictated to us by the blood sometimes appear foreign to us. Here, it seems to want to command us to open up magic riches in the trees."

René Magritte

Provenance du tableau original: Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienne, Austria