A Rare Magritte Poster enriches the Collections of the Magritte Museum in Brussels
Visitors to the Magritte Museum now have the opportunity to discover a new work by the master of Surrealism, The True Face of Rex, a poster considered to be the only creation by René Magritte with an explicitly political character.
In 1936, Magritte created an antifascist poster for the Belgian branch of the Committee of Vigilance of Antifascist Intellectuals. It depicts Léon Degrelle, leader and founder of the far-right Rexist Party, who does not see his own reflection in the mirror, but that of Adolf Hitler.
In October 2025, the work was offered for sale for the first time by Arenberg Auctions. Charly Herscovici, heir to René Magritte’s intellectual rights and founder of the Magritte Foundation, acquired it: “The poster underwent very light restoration and now enriches the museum’s exhibition route. It was important to me that this piece, which bears witness to a particular aspect of Magritte’s work, be accessible to the public. It is in this spirit that I acquired it in order to place it on deposit with the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, which display it within the Magritte Museum.”
During the 1930s, this poster, lithographed in red and black, was printed in several thousand copies, but almost the entire print run was destroyed for fear of reprisals from the Nazis.
Today, only two copies are known to exist: one in the Archives of the City of Brussels and the one now preserved at the Magritte Museum. The copy in question comes directly from the collection of a family close to the group of antifascist activists.
Kim Oosterlinck, General Director of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (which include the Magritte Museum), states: “Without Charly Herscovici, the Magritte Museum would not have been able to come into being. His commitment to the museum has never wavered since its creation, and this acquisition once again demonstrates how invaluable his support is for the museum.”