When given some money for his birthday, Michel thought that the most enjoyable and lasting way of spending it would be to commission a portrait. As somebody who particularly enjoys the work of the Surrealists, a portrait ‘after Magritte’ seemed the thing. Michel used this website to select and contact David Cobley to paint it. David , who also shares an interest in the Surrealists, was delighted to accept the challenge.
“I first met Michel in his London apartment around six months ago. He wanted to be portrayed coming through an imaginary doorway in one of Magritte’s
paintings, wine glass in hand, toasting life and all it has to offer.
Such a portrait cannot be painted easily from life, but I had my camera with me and went away
with what I needed to make a start back in the studio. When I delivered it last week he and his
family reacted with delight and amusement. I don’t know what Magritte would have made of it,
but Michel thinks he would have been proud!”
David’s Cobley’s retrospective exhibition ‘All by Himself’ opens next week and is accompanied by a book about his life and work.
It is held at Mall Galleries, London.