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The MIT Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to October
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"Ceci n'est pas une pipe"
MICHEL FOUCAULT
TRANSLATED BY RICHARD HOWARD
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w. .eo. .., ,
.:. a2 Cr4
= . . .. o *..
Cec.? oO e
, - al om o -
._ __ _..._
FI \\\-
/ "!7 _7oomt "o
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8 OCTOBER
have) to diss
for over thr
return to all
But this str
painted canv
space with vi
edges of the f
grooves of th
no coordinat
converse eff
confined with
framed pictur
an emanation
pipe smoke
resembling t
the Battle of
not even sup
gigantic tha
dimension br
space hencefo
I am, howeve
quite doubtf
up above and
feet of this e
resting on a f
their contact
rather massiv
frame, the ca
in fragments
be reconstru
neither meas
immobility?
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"Ceci n'est pas une pipe" 9
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10 OCTOBER
they speak. A
the words w
nameless pre
establish it i
are they now
streaming ra
And now, M
broken callig
the calligram
disturb all th
The text w
ideogram is
where it serv
it, inserting
becomes, in
reascends to
momentarily
floating in i
distribution
drawing are
painter has
unassignable)
attribute to
state as a dra
they are, on
this is not a
the same han
writing mor
imagine it fi
scattered ove
The invisibl
drawing; and
figure should
drawn repres
The same a
graphic dupl
sufficiently
and undernea
compared to
cal. It undert
well known, t
the name, he
this strange
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"Ceci n'est pas une pipe" 11
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12 OCTOBER
Now, it read
statement is t
of the text by
coincide, exce
group, and wh
their present
group constitu
incompatible
discourse and
visual interpl
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"Ceci n'est pas une pipe" 13
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14 OCTOBER
subordinations
one.
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"Ceci n'est pas. une pipe" 15
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16 OCTOBER
Let there b
principle of
seemed to b
the arbitrar
tiously reap
meticulous r
Klee wove,
Magritte allo
for it is no m
is nothing. I
have marked
hidden unde
rises to its s
version of
characters o
between the
living bodies
faces about
there where
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"Ceci n'est pas une pipe" 17
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18 OCTOBER
infinite inter
outside the pi
plant whose l
themselves, t
Graces, The T
which femini
the plastic ele
analogy which
the playful in
has the powe
regularly inc
slice guarant
proportionals
the head (the
Another way
representativ
contrary of w
appearance, th
an affirmatio
canvas and wh
painting to t
overflow from
Human Condition where the sea's horizon continues without a break with the
horizon on the canvas); or by inversion of distances (as in The Waterfall where th
model advances on the canvas, envelops it on the sides, and makes it seem farthe
back in relation to what should be behind it). Conversely to this analogy which
denies representation by effacing duality and distance, there is the opposite on
which evades or mocks representation by means of the snares of doubling. In
Evening Falls, the windowpane bears a red sun analogous to the one which remain
fixed in the heavens (so much, then, contra Descartes and his way of resolving th
two suns of appearance into the unity of representation); the contrary occurs in The
Field Glass: on the transparence of a windowpane we see clouds passing and a blue
sea sparkling; but the gap between the casements reveals a black space: what we se
on the glass is a reflection of nothing at all.
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"Ceci n'est pas une pipe" 19
1963
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20 OCTOBER
resemblances
It is only th
understands
It is quite as
intervene: th
visibly. Las M
the invisible
visible figure
In this rega
nature-conc
another visib
There has be
result of a confused literature whose interest vanishes if we recall that what is visible
can be concealed, but that what is invisible conceals nothing: it can be known or
unknown, no more. There is no reason to grant the invisible more importance than
the visible, nor the converse.
What does not 'lack' importance is the mystery evoked in fact by the visible and
the invisible, and which can be evoked potentially by the thought which unites
'things' in the order which evokes mystery.
I am taking the liberty of calling to your attention the enclosed reproductions
of works I painted without concerning myself with an original investigation of
painting.
Please accept . . etc.
Rene Magritte.
June 4, 1966
Dear Sir,
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"Ceci n'est pas une pipe" 21
l0& iA.A
raoot?
dalL IrJA
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