Ce n'est pas Georgette Berger

Mostly we are told that “René Magritte married Georgette Berger”, but maybe Georgette Berger married René Magritte?

An Antephele rotted in my kitchen.

An Antephele rotted in my kitchen.
I said to him very nicely,
This is a ’Pataphysicians’ phenomenology,
You are a doctrine, a system, a theory;
Remove your malodorous being:
We have had an abundance of your presence.

Das Haus der Weltkultur

The Bloggist builds a site specific sculpture, a tripod, in a dry riverbed in Bavaria. He jokingly dedicates the completed structure to Paul Ludwig Troost and calls it “Das Haus der Weltkultur”.

The Temple of Pure Reason

Sixteen miles from Whittlebury Forest in Northamptonshire there is a famous Temple of Pure Reason, a place of veneration to all the surrounding communities and free-thinkers everywhere. Here there is a grove enclosed by a dense wood of lofty Oak and Ash trees, in the middle of which there is a bucolic pasture. On this pasture rare Red Poll cattle feed. These cattle are a source of great profit; a column of solid gold has been made from the money they generate and has been dedicated to Pure Reason. And so the Temple has become celebrated for its wealth as well as for its sanctity, and as generally happens in these famous spots, some miracles have also been attributed to it. For example, it is commonly reported that a Philosopher who spends two years, two months, and two days at the Temple of Pure Reason experiences Transcendental Idealism; meanwhile, a ’Pataphysician would see only red cows.

Remnant of a troglodyte civilization

Where the Morlocks took the Time Machine

Probe to Search for John Brown

Turnhout University scientists working with NASA have made a startling discovery that points to the possibility that a primitive form of John Brown may have existed on Mars more than three billion years ago. The research is based on a sophisticated examination of an ancient John Brown that landed on Earth some 13,000 years ago. John Brown in outer space could be black, reports a new study. "Ideally, what you want is a black John Brown that absorbs all of the light," said Dr. Blankenberg of Turnhout University. Recent probes inside the earthly John Brown show it is overwhelmingly likely that John Brown began in space, according to the Turnhout scientists' research paper published in Astrobiology.

Last month NASA announced a new probe to detect planets outside the solar system. The Turnhout team have developed experimental systems controlling air temperature, humidity, CO2 concentrations, light and air circulation and delivering recycled water and nutrients to revive any John Brown on planets discovered during the probe’s voyage. Statistically, it is highly improbable that our planet is the only one to support John Brown; the universe contains an incredibly large number of stars and their associated planets, and the conditions required to support John Brown probably exist in many millions of places.

King Venceslas of Poland in Exile

Arch

Underneath the Arches I dream my dreams away

Rik Wouters – Nel, the shadow of his images

Buil de Onplezierig thinks about Rik Wouters and Nel Wouters.

Nel Wouters wrote, “La vie de Rik Wouters à travers son oeuvre”
Buil de Onplezierig considers writing “Het Leven van Nel Wouters door haar werk”

Buil de Onplezierig asks, who is more important, Rik or Nel?
Buil de Onplezierig peels Nel off the canvas to see what is under her.
Buil de Onplezierig cuts her out like a figure in a paper collage.
Buil de Onplezierig considers the glue that holds her in Rik’s vision.
Buil de Onplezierig asks, without Nel what would Rik have painted?
Buil de Onplezierig questions, did Nel see the message behind Rik’s images?

Buil de Onplezierig considers; away from the paintings, who was Nel?
Did Nel dream of being well known as an artist in her own right?
Did Nel like delphiniums?
Did Nel make Waterzooi for Rik?
Did Nel prefer Waterzooi made with fish or chicken?
Did Nel keep in touch with Edgard Tytgat after Rik’s death?
Did, and if she did, when did, Nel institute the Rik & Nel Wouters Prize for Cancer Research?

Saskia van Rijn managed the business side of Rembrandt van Rijn’s art,
Did Nel Wouters manage the business side of Rik Wouters’ art?

Did Nel see that women who were trained as artists married other artists and then disappeared?
Did Nel think that women were femmes fatales, femmes fragiles, femmes savants or femmes domestiques (femmes qui font les travaux domestiques)?
In Art, did Nel see her role as a Muse or a Maker?

Buil de Onplezierig makes a preliminary search for information.

WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT NEL

1) Full name: Hélène Philomène Leonardine Duerinckx.
2) Born 18th October 1886, baptized 20th October 1886, in Schaarbeek, Belgium.
3) Witnesses to her baptism were Leonard De Klerk and Joseph Bouckmans.
4) Hélène is more popularly known as "Nel".
5) First cousin to the painter Adrien Paul Duerinckx.
6) 1904 Nel meets Rik Wouters
7) Married Rik in a civic ceremony in Watermaal-Bosvoorde on Saturday 15 April 1905
8) Nel and Rik moved in with Rik’s parents in Mechelen.
9) 1911/1912. Nel falls ill with tuberculosis and they move to Bosvoorde as the air there is considered healthier for her.
10) Nel is Rik’s principal model, she is painted - Ironing a blue cloth standing in front of the sittingroom fireplace - Lolling across a table sniffing Rik’s birthday roses - Lying on a bed with only brown stockings on - Standing by an open window with the autumn landscape behind her.
11) 31st July 1914 Rik is called to join the Belgian army, sent to the front and taken prisoner near Liege. Escapes. Close to Antwerp his unit is surrounded, Rik crosses the border to The Netherlands where he is sent to an internment camp at Zeist, between Amersfort and Utrecht.
12) September 1914, Nel flees German invasion of Belgium to be close to Rik in Zeist.
13) Rik complains of headaches which are diagnosed as caused by cancer of the jaw. Released on medical grounds, Rik & Nel live in Amsterdam.
14) 1915, Rik paints Nel seated, reading, wearing a black dress.
15) Nel and Rik confirm their civic marriage with a religious marriage service, Amsterdam, May 1916.
16) July 1916, Nel is widowed as Rik dies of his cancer in a clinic on the Prinsengracht.
17) Les Editions Lumiere, Bruxelles, 1944, publishes “La Vie de Rik Wouters a Travers Son Oeuvre” by Nel Wouters
18) Nel remarries – a Monsieur de Carnière – and lives in Brussels.
19) Nel dies in 1971.
20) 11th December 1991, Charcoal drawing by Nel Wouters, “Rik se Soutenant la Tete”, dated 1916, is sold at the auction house S.A. Servarts N.V.

Buil de Onplezierig wonders on the lack of analysis of Nel’s role and the enthusiastic acclaim given Rik.
Buil de Onplezierig considers John Stuart Mill and Marie Popelin.