“The Empire of Light (French: L’Empire des lumières) is the title of a succession of paintings by René Magritte.[1] They depict the paradoxical image of a nocturnal landscape beneath a sunlit sky.[2] He explored the theme in 27 paintings (17 oil paintings and 10 gouaches) from the 1940s to the 1960s.” (from Wikipedia)
Here’s a helpful tidbit about the (confusing translation for the) series title, as explained by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art for their 2018 Magritte exhibit: “The French title, L’empire des lumières, is ambiguous in translation, becoming either “empire” or “dominion.” In our catalogue, Sandra Zalman discusses the distinction: “While an empire exists in relation to a ruler, a dominion does not necessarily require this.”
