A simply laid-out meal is not as simple as it seems. Each object is rendered with equally sharp focus and pictorial realism, yet any expectation of everyday reality is overturned, above all by the unblinking eye that stares inexplicably from a slice of ham on a plate. The perspective of this still life tilts dramatically toward the surface of the picture plane, as if to confront or perhaps invite the viewer to join the table.

Gallery label from

Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary, 1926-1938, September 28, 2013–January 12, 2014.

Provenance Research Project

This work is included in the Provenance Research Project, which investigates the ownership history of works in MoMA's collection.

1935, René Magritte, Brussels.
1935 - 1940, E.L.T. (Edouard Léon Théodore) Mesens (1903-1971), Brussels and London (from 1938), purchased from the artist.
1940 - at least 1949, Gordon Onslow-Ford, San Francisco Bay Area, California, purchased from Mesens.
By 1956, Kay Sage Tanguy, Woodbury, Connecticut.
1956, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, acquired as gift from Kay Sage Tanguy.

Provenance research is a work in progress, and is frequently updated with new information. If you have any questions or information to provide about the listed works, please email [email protected] or write to:

Provenance Research Project
The Museum of Modern Art
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Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions 28 7/8 x 19 7/8" (73.3 x 50.2 cm)
Credit Gift of Kay Sage Tanguy
Object number 574.1956
Department Painting & Sculpture

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René Magritte

René Magritte

Belgian, 1898–1967 14 works online

Clouds, pipes, bowler hats, and green apples: these remain some of the most immediately recognizable icons of René Magritte, the Belgian painter and well-known Surrealist .

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