Sometimes it's a Pipe, Sometimes it's a Man in a Bowler Hat

Though several of the paintings of the renowned Belgian surrealist René Magritte eventually became pop culture icons - his 1964 'Le fils de l'homme' (the son of man) is perhaps the most recognizable, with poster versions decorating thousands of college dorm room walls - he will ever be known for a single long running joke. Indeed, his 1929 'Ceci n'est pas une pipe' was simply the image of a pipe, which bore the title 'This is Not a Pipe'. It inspired the now iconic retort, "Sometimes a pipe is just a pipe."

Following a recent high-profile retrospective at the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp, which put him squarely back in the international spotlight, Gagosian's Grosvenor Hill London gallery goes back to referencing that famous joke, with an exhibition opening September 24 which is slyly titled 'This Is Still Not a Pipe: The Afterlife of Magritte'. Legendary gallery founder Larry Gagosian astutely observes of the artist, who passed away in 1967, "Almost six decades after his death, his influence continues to resonate. I am delighted to be presenting his work at the gallery once again, and to offer audiences a renewed opportunity to engage with the poetry, wit, and mystery that define his vision.”

Co-curated by Jasper Sharp, formerly of Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum, and Princeton-based art advisor Bernard Lagrange, the exhibit was produced in conjunction with Fondation Magritte President Charly Herscovici. Yet far from just another survey of his perception-altering oeuvre, it has been cleverly conceived as something of a contemporary "appraisal" of his wide-ranging influence, his works being thought-provokingly juxtaposed with those by current artists who have drawn inspiration from him (some of which were commissioned specifically for this event).

So his 'L'Apparition' (1928) and 'La Malédiction' (1931) share space with Laura Owens' 'Untitled' (2016), with each possessing of a similar fascination with the forms of clouds; whilst his 'Le Marche triomphale' (1948) is matched by Dana Schulz' 'The Singer' (2026) in employing surreal, fantastical "beings" to depict otherwise unremarkable human situations (for instance, marching in a parade, in the case of the former).

Appropriately, there is also real star power here, with contributions by Matthew Barney, Yoko Ono, Maurizio Cattelan and even Jeff Koons helping to pay proper tribute to an artist so singular that he even rejected "official" inclusion with the trendy surrealist groups of his earlier days. Though it should be said that his famous quote “If the dream is a translation of waking life, waking life is also a translation of the dream" arguably aligned him with their working philosophy.

What always did set Magritte apart was his more cheeky - and considerably less sardonic than the Surrealists - sense of humor, exhibited here with the inclusion of 'Le Lieu commun' (featuring his signature bowler-hatted gentleman), and 'La Lampe philosophique', in which the subject's nose hilariously droops down into his pipe (please do not attempt this). It is likely why his 1942 'L’Équateur' (pictured in the Instagram post at the bottom of this story) ended up, via Jasper Sharp, in Wes Anderson's 2025 black comedy 'The Phoenician Scheme' - as the director surely shares a bit of Magritte's mischievous sense of snark.

“It is difficult to imagine a world today without Magritte," Mr. Gagosian rightly reckons, insisting that the artist's influence is still, "shaping the broader landscape of visual culture."

(Parents: Please check out this wonderful and informative 'How to Draw like Magritte' video from our friends at Art Projects For Kids, to give your favorite little artist/artists a head start in developing their own unique surrealist style.)