recently at Series Magritte

The State of Grace


What people see is the title,
not the subject. & the subject
contradicts the title. “I was
inspired,” said Magritte. “The 
subject to be painted: a bicycle 
on a cigar.” Or to put it even
more bluntly, a bicycle riding
roughshod over another object —
no state of grace in that. Ex-
cept . . .The objects float, & 
perhaps a belief hovers that 
the laws of gravity are defied 
when things are in a state of 
grace. Which brings in Simone 
Weill, who wrote: “All the 
natural movements of the soul 
are controlled by laws analogous 
to those of physical gravity. 
Grace is the only exception.” 
‘Analogous to’ is the escape 
clause that allows St. Thomas 
Aquinas to come on board &
point out that grace builds
upon, not contradicts, nature.
Then, once all parties are on
stage, lined up like ten pins 
in a state of grace, Magritte 
reappears, wearing his bowl-
er hat, & with a solid verbal 
cast, scatters the skittles
with his addendum: “A bike
sometimes runs over a cigar
down in the street.” No
gravity, no grace inherent.