The painting depicts a large rock floating above a sea and topped by a stone
castle. Magritte's friend Harry Torczyner, a lawyer and author, commissioned the painting and chose its theme. The painting is displayed in the
Israel Museum, in
Jerusalem, along with Magritte's correspondence with Torczyner. The painting is one of several Magritte works depicting stones, which were a frequent theme in his 1950s work. The work was influenced by the French expression "châteaux en Espagne", or castles in
Spain, which refers to impossible dreams; the
Pyrenees mountain range runs along the border between France and Spain. It is one of Magritte's most reproduced paintings and has been cited as an inspiration by artists such as
John Baldessari,
Edward Ruscha, and
Martin Kippenberger. A 2008 novel by Norwegian author
Jostein Gaarder is named after the painting. ==See also==