René Magritte

Galerie Le Centaure, Brussels

E.L.T. Mesens, Brussels (acquired from the above in 1932)

Harold Diamond, New York (acquired from the above circa 1959-60)

Alexander Iolas, Rome and Paris (acquired from the above by 1978)

Acquired from the above on 14 December 1979 by the present owner

Sarah Whitfield and Michael Raeburn; David Sylvester, ed., René Magritte, Catalogue Raisonné, Oil Paintings, 1916-1930, vol. I, London, 1992, no. 194, p. 254, illustrated

Christoph Grunenberg, Magritte A to Z, London, 2012, p. 126, illustrated in colour (titled The Literal Meaning)

London, Hayward Gallery, Dada and Surrealism Reviewed, 1978, no. 9.30, n.p., illustrated in colour (titled Le Sens propre)

Brussels, Palais de Beaux-Arts and Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou, Magritte. Rétrospective, 1978-79, no. 49, n.p., illustrated (titled Le Sens propre)

Tate Liverpool and Vienna, Albertina Museum, René Magritte, The Pleasure Principle, 2011-12