René Magritte The Lovers II (1928) T-Shirt
Two people kissing through cloth. Their heads are wrapped in white fabric, and the kiss lands on the sheet rather than on a mouth.
Magritte painted it in 1928, and the biographical reading is hard to avoid: when he was thirteen his mother drowned herself in the Sambre, and when her body was recovered her nightdress was over her face. He never confirmed the connection and never denied it either. What survives is a painting about intimacy that is entirely obstructed and entirely tender at once, which is a difficult thing to get onto one canvas and an unusual thing to wear.
Daddy considers this the best painting on any shirt he owns. He is not wrong.
The shirt itself is the good kind of basic: combed ring-spun cotton, preshrunk, side-seamed so it hangs straight, taped shoulders so the collar doesn’t twist after the fortieth wash. It fits like the tee you’ve had for ten years, on day one.
Curator’s note
A serious image. Plain, dark, and let it be the only thing you are saying.
Details
Artwork: The Lovers II (Les Amants) — René Magritte, 1928
100% combed ring-spun cotton, 4.3 oz/yd² (heather colours 10% polyester)
Preshrunk 32/1 jersey knit
Crew neck, short sleeves
Side seamed, shoulder-to-shoulder tape, seamed collar
Double-needle sleeve and bottom hems
Oeko-Tex® Standard 100 certified — tested free of harmful substances
How to wear it
Black or white tee, dark trousers, nothing patterned. This one goes to dinner, not to brunch.
Sizing
Unisex cut, true to size. Women’s sizes are fitted — check the size chart and size up for a looser fit.