The Healer

The Healer (le Thérapeute), 1967

In the last year of Magritte's life the well-known gallery owner Alexandre Iolas asked him whether he had ever given any thought to creating sculptures as well. The painter had certainly entertained the possibility but the sculptures would exclusively have to be based on motifs from his paintings.

Le Thérapeute reflects a number of themes typical of Magritte's work, such as the extraordinary within the ordinary, the surprising, the unexpected and the mystery.

Via Le Thérapeute Magritte brought to life a figure that had already featured on several occasions in his oeuvre. However, this sculpture is based on a photograph dating from 1937 entitled God on the Eighth Day [Dieu, le huitième jour]. For this particular sculpture he made a plaster cast of an existing person, from which he used certain pieces. The bird cage is also a copy of a real one.