MAGRITTE René. LA VOIX DU MYSTÈRE. - Lot 81

MAGRITTE René. LA VOIX DU MYSTÈRE. Autograph manuscript signed, [1961]: 1 p. in-8 (216 x 138 mm) in ink on white wove paper, on the reverse side of a René Magritte letterhead. Important theoretical text published in January 1962 in issue no. 4 of the journal Rhétorique edited by André Bosmans, then reprinted in Écrits Complets (Flammarion, 1979, p. 548). "Whatever its manifest character, everything is mysterious: what appears and what is hidden, knowledge and igno- rance, life, death and light, darkness. But none of the qualities attributed to things is suitable to qualify the mystery without which no thing would be possible." In a letter from Magritte to André Bosmans dated September 25, 1961, we read this paragraph: "Following a discussion about my text 'The Voice of Mystery', it is to be feared that the mystery of which I speak will be confused with that of which the priests make their propaganda: I was told that they would know how to convince me that I am 'a believer' as they understand it. To avoid this error, this horror, it would be necessary to add to my text - which does not correspond to any doctrine - from the beginning. We would then have : The Mystery, which does not correspond to any doctrine, is not a possibility." The correction has not been made in the printed version, which conforms to the manuscript.