Which Magritte painting depicts a nighttime street scene under a bright blue sky?

The Magritte painting depicting a nighttime street scene beneath a bright blue, daylight-like sky is The Empire of Light.

René Magritte’s image deliberately combines two conditions that normally cannot appear together: a dark, lamplit street and a luminous daytime sky. Trees and buildings are rendered in deep shadow while the upper portion of the canvas suggests blue daylight, creating a visual paradox rather than a realistic time of day.

The title refers to a succession of related works, not one unique canvas. Magritte explored the motif in 27 paintings—17 oils and 10 gouaches—from the 1940s through the 1960s. Different versions are held by institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, the Menil Collection, and the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium.

A common mix-up is to identify the work as Golconda, which shows bowler-hatted men floating over a city, or The Son of Man, featuring a face obscured by an apple. The Empire of Light is instead recognized by its impossible meeting of night below and day above.