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# René Magritte's paradoxical series "The Empire of Light": a bright daytime sky above a night-time landscape of houses and trees
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/paradoksalnaia-seriia-kartin-imperiia-sveta-rene-magritta-s-iarkim-dnevnym-nebom-nad-nochnym-peizazhem-s-zhilymi-domami-i-dereviami/
- Published: 2025-01-03T12:02:38.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:31:33.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Art, Books

The series comprises no fewer than 17 works, titled for the most part "The Empire of Light", together with "God's Drawing Room" and "Luck". By various estimates, as many as 27 paintings are counted in the series. They were painted over many years: from 1929, but chiefly from 1947 to 1967, until the end of the artist's life.

This is how Magritte himself spoke of the series:

> For me, the conception of a picture is the idea of one or several things which can become visible through my canvas. Clearly, not all ideas are conceptions for pictures. Obviously, the idea must be stimulating enough for me to undertake the exact depiction of the things I have imagined. The idea in a picture is not visible: one cannot see a thought with one's eyes. Thus, in "The Empire of Light" I brought together different notions, namely a night-time landscape and a sky in all the glory of daylight. The landscape suggests to us the idea of night, the sky that of day. In my opinion, this simultaneous presence of day and night has the power to surprise and enchant us. And this power I call poetry. If I believe that this spell possesses such poetic power, it is because, among other things, I have always felt the keenest interest in night and day, but have never given preference to either. This great personal interest in day and night is a feeling of admiration and wonder

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_14785@03-01-2025_15-02-38.jpg)

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_14786@03-01-2025_15-02-38.jpg)

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_14787@03-01-2025_15-02-38.jpg)