This exquisite lithograph after Rene Magritte (1898–1967), titled Une Porte souvre sur la Nuit Veloutee (A Door Opens onto the Velvety Night), from the folio Les Enfants Trouves de Magritte (The Found Children of Magritte), 1968, originates from the edition published by A.C. Mazo et Cie, Paris, and printed by Mourlot Freres, Paris, on November 20, 1968. The work embodies Magrittes sustained inquiry into semiotics and visual epistemology, translating his characteristic strategies of displacement, symbolic inversion, and conceptual ambiguity into an image that operates as both a poetic metaphor and a philosophical proposition concerning the instability of meaning.
Executed as a lithograph on grand velin dArches paper, this work measures 17.5 x 23.5 inches (44.5 x 59.7 cm). Signed in the plate by the artist; hand signed by Fernand Mourlot, Editeur. The edition exemplifies the technical mastery of the Mourlot atelier.
Artwork Details:
Artist: After Rene Magritte (1898–1967)
Title: Une Porte souvre sur la Nuit Veloutee (A Door Opens onto the Velvety Night), from the folio Les Enfants Trouves de Magritte (The Found Children of Magritte)
Medium: Lithograph on grand velin dArches paper
Dimensions: 17.5 x 23.5 inches (44.5 x 59.7 cm)
Inscription: Signed in the plate by the artist; hand signed by Fernand Mourlot, Editeur
Date: 1968
Publisher: A.C. Mazo et Cie, Paris
Printer: Mourlot Freres, Paris
Catalogue Raisonne: Magritte, Rene, et al. Rene Magritte: Catalogue Raisonne, Vol. 3. Menil Foundation; Philip Wilson Publishers; Distributed in the USA and Canada by Rizzoli International, 1992, nos. 791–792 and 1056; vol. 5, p. 218, Bibliography entry 68.28.
Condition: Well preserved, consistent with age and medium
Provenance: From the folio Les Enfants Trouves de Magritte, 1968
Notes:
Excerpted from the folio (translated from French), Finished printing in Paris on November 20, 1968, on the presses of Mourlot, for the lithographs. The unpublished text by Louis Scutenaire was composed in Elzevir Casion corps 28 and printed by Fequet et Baudier, typographers. The unpublished compositions numbered from I to IV were specially made by Rene Magritte for this album. The compositions of the Enchanted Domain, are the renderings of the eight paintings of the mural of the Casino de Knokke. They were printed with the benevolent authorization of Mr. Gustave J. Nellens. Justification of the draw, this album was taken from CCCL examples on grand velin dArches numbered from I to CCCL, plus a few examples for collaborators and assistants.
About the Publication:
Les Enfants Trouves de Magritte (The Found Children of Magritte), published in 1968 by A.C. Mazo et Cie, Paris, represents one of the most significant late life print projects devoted to Rene Magrittes work. Conceived as both a literary and visual tribute, the folio pairs texts by the Belgian writer Louis Scutenaire, Magrittes close friend and fellow Surrealist, with lithographic interpretations produced at the Mourlot atelier, the premier lithographic workshop of twentieth century France. The album includes compositions by Magritte alongside lithographic renderings of the celebrated Enchanted Domain mural from the Casino de Knokke, printed with the authorization of Gustave J. Nellens, who commissioned the original mural. Issued in a single edition of CCCL examples on grand velin dArches, the folio stands as a testament to the collaboration between artist, writer, publisher, and master printer, and remains one of the most culturally important Surrealist print albums of the post war era.
About the Artist:
Rene Magritte (1898–1967) was a Belgian Surrealist painter whose visionary, intellectual, and poetic imagery redefined twentieth century art and forever changed how the world perceives reality and illusion. Celebrated for his calm precision and thought provoking juxtapositions of ordinary objects in extraordinary contexts, Magritte used painting as a philosophical tool, transforming the everyday into visual paradoxes that challenged the boundaries between what is seen and what is known. Born in Lessines, Belgium, and trained at the Academie Royale des Beaux Arts in Brussels, he absorbed early influences from Cubism, Futurism, and Symbolism before embracing Surrealism, where he found his true voice. In Paris, he became part of the avant garde circle that included Pablo Picasso, Alexander Calder, Alberto Giacometti, Salvador Dali, Joan Miro, Wassily Kandinsky, Marcel Duchamp, and Man Ray—all artists whose radical ideas helped him forge his distinctive synthesis of logic and mystery. Unlike Dalis dream like flamboyance or Miros biomorphic whimsy, Magrittes art was characterized by clarity, restraint, and wit. His masterpieces such as The Treachery of Images (1929), The Lovers (1928), The False Mirror (1929), The Human Condition (1933), and The Son of Man (1964) remain icons of modern art, exploring the tension between object and idea, perception and truth. Through these works, Magritte revealed that art—and reality itself—is a construct of interpretation, not fact. His crisp realism and conceptual depth merged Duchamps intellectual irony with Kandinskys spiritual abstraction, producing an art that was as rigorous as it was enigmatic. Throughout his life, Magritte maintained an independent position within Surrealism, preferring quiet paradox over emotional drama, and crafting what he called visible images that evoke mystery. His influence reverberated through Pop Art, Conceptualism, Minimalism, and Postmodernism, shaping artists such as Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Joseph Kosuth, John Baldessari, and Ed Ruscha, as well as filmmakers like David Lynch and Jean Luc Godard. Today, his imagery remains embedded in global visual culture, bridging philosophy, psychology, and aesthetics. Exhibited in major institutions worldwide including MoMA, Tate Modern, and the Centre Pompidou, Magrittes art continues to inspire generations to see the world anew. His highest auction record was achieved by Lempire des lumieres (1954), which sold for approximately 121.1 million USD at Christies, New York, on November 20, 2024, reaffirming his timeless legacy as a master of mystery and modern thought.
Magritte Lithograph Mourlot Les Enfants Trouves 1968 Mazo Editeur.
