Jonathan Grado

I ended up with a Rene Magritte book signed by Dominique de Menil. You can scroll to the photos or read on for some backstory.

I had revisited the Museum of Modern Art with a close friend for the first time in years. I haven’t been in New York as much as I’d like lately. It was incredible. And the parking garage fee? Sigh, I missed numbers so high (I had luggage in the car, so no subway). Anyway, I got home and my mom had asked if anything stood out. I mentioned my favorite was still Lovers by Rene Magritte. My mom exclaimed that’s her favorite painting too. Did I know this? Had I forgotten? Is this a round about way of saying after all these years do I really know my own mother? No.

Finding Dominique de Menil's Autograph

The same friend that I went to MoMA with had come back from the Menil Collection and Foundation in Houston, Texas and told me about their Magritte collection. The act of taking subjects that don't immediately seem like they belong together and framing them in the same scene has become an obsession. I love refining my own work through focusing on surrealism photography and art. I try to stretch these muscles with works like Saint Citrus and Happy Hour.

Coincidentally, I had just found an old Rene Magritte art book available online and picked it up. David Sylvester’s Magritte - now out of print - was published in 1992 for The Menil Foundation’s Magritte collection. The book is wonderful. Words. Paintings. The description of the sense of humor of a Belgian artist. Everything you could ever want. When I opened the book for the first time, under the opening flap of the dust jacket, I found a postcard with a signature by a woman named Dominique.

By chance, this book is signed by Dominique de Menil, founder of the Menil Collection. Dated February 14, 1995. Her Menil Foundation in Houston started in 1954 as a place to spread the awareness and eduction of art. Today it's grown to become an integral part of Texas art and culture. I had heard their Cy Twombly collection is fantastic, and would love to see what Magritte they have showing as well. This Magritte book was a gift from her to her friend, and is now being written about in the same train of thought of “do I really know my own mother?”

Magritte might laugh.