The artist was prevented from finishing this work by death. But despite its incompleteness, the Empire of Light is considered the most popular painting by Magritte. Collectors were willing to pay any money, just to have in its collection one of its options. Magritte wrote a huge number of options “Empire…” and they all sold for a lot of money.
“I connected various concepts in the Empire of Light, namely, night landscape and the sky in all the glory of daylight,” said Magritte. – Landscape inclines us to the thought of night, the sky – about the bottom. In my opinion, this simultaneous phenomenon of day and night has the power to surprise and captivate. And I call this power poetry.