René Magritte

rene magritte

They are little bells, often attached to the harness of horses, especially when driving in the winter.

It is called The Son Of Man, painted in 1964. Now in a private collection.

The important thing is what YOU like.

They were both surrealists and painted pictures which at the first glance may seem realistic.

Three other artists who are often considered Surrealists:

# Salvador Dali # Joan Miro # Max Ernst

Background and Training

· As a child: Magritte was always attached to the magic of painting à certain that he was going to become a painter

· 1916: after persuading father à began training at Academie des Beaux-Arts in Brussels

· Attended classes of: drawing, decorative painting, ornamental composition

o used a dry, matter of fact technique in his paintings à categorised much of his work from then on

· Was a painter until his death

Influence of Surrealism

· Surrealism began as a literary movement founded by poet Andre Brenton

· Strongly influenced by WW1 and Dada

· Dada: Marcel Duchamp

o Influence on The Treachery of Images: uses a technique to allow the viewer to rethink their thoughts of his artworks

· Surrealists believed à had the power and duty to change life

· Uniting the conscious and unconscious experiences completely à dream and fantasy were joined to everyday world

o Used an object that is harmless à re-scaled that object à portray something that is quite menacing and beyond the viewers logical understanding

Cinematic Influence

· Feudillado's cinematic five part series à Fantomas (1913-14) portrays:

o businessmen with no expression wearing black bowler hats

o corridors

o rooftops of Paris

o intense shadows

§ Magritte uses the same figure

§ "The Son of Man"

Georgio de Chirico

· 1919: Work of Georgio de Chirico à "The Song of Love" à portrayed strange juxtaposition of objects à Magritte was certain he wanted to become a painter

o 1935: Usual objects in a strange context à different meaning à The Human Condition

· 1919: displayed work for first time à influence of early Cubist à Picasso

· Artworks from 1918-24: influence of Futurism

· 1925: strong influence of Matisse

Fernand Leger and the Purists

oil on canvas :)

He dies on the 24th august 1928.

It is picture of a an eye reflecting the sky.

Magritte said a picture means whatever YOU make of it. If you are interested in one person's thoughts about this picture click link below!