Antinomic, day and night have long been used to represent opposing poetic and symbolic realms, metaphors for the duality of human existence or the tension cherished by the Surrealists between reality and dream. La Valse Hésitation quickly acquired the status of a perennial masterpiece of Surrealism, because, like the artistic movement it celebrates, it is saturated with opposites that harmonize: the rotundity of apples and the flatness of the background, the calm of a still life and the waltz of a masked ball, the emptiness of the sky and the clouds that populate it. Magritte continued to return to this image and rework it right up to his very last works, including it in Le Domaine enchanté, the major set design project he conceived for the Knokke casino from 1953 onwards. Eight versions on canvas are known for La Valse Hésitation and Prêtre marié (compared with 17 for L'Empire des lumières)." (Sotheby's October 19, 2023 Modernités Catalogue, Lot 9)
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