Rene Magritte Surrealism

Surrealism

Rene self portrait in the style of cubism

 Rene Magritte 

Rene Magritte was a Belgian Artist born in 1898, Rene was the oldest of three brothers who also lived with they mother and father in Brussells. While Rene's young upbringing was relatively comfy, money later became an issue.. at the age of 12 his mother committed suicide and this in turn had a lasting effect on the young artist.

 He as a young adolesent he went to study at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts.Here he found influences from Pablo Picasso and the Cubist and Futurist movement. Being exposed to these while studying at Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts gave the artist new direction and later he decided to move to France. This is where he began to mix with artist and poets should as Max Enrst, Salvador Dali and Andre Breton.

Donna 1923 Cubist style

Over the next few years he produced works such as The Lovers and The False Mirror

The lovers.......looking at this image I feel they is something incaptavting and sexual...Almost forbidden and a sense of needing...Lust......or maybe its a mask for the lovers hiding behind the act they no longer in love? 

The False Mirror Surrealist style

To Magritte, what is concealed is more important than what is open to view: this was true both of his own fears and of his manner of depicting the mysterious. If he wrapped a body in linen, if he spread curtains or wall-hangings, if he concealed heads under hoods, then it was not so much to hide as to achieve an effect of alienation.

I like how Surrealism makes the viewer ask questions and wonder. Sometimes the riddle or imagination is the meaning behind the picture. I think Surrealism expresses the very act of free will and opportunity for the artist to be dream like or brutally honest. The meaning of dreams by Freud is something I once owned myself. I find in our modern day life of technology we should all be drawn in hoods as we alienate ourselves by having our heads in phone or surfing the net... not looking up but always down!

In the mid 1920s Magritte began to paint in the surrealist style and became known for his witty and thought-provoking images and his use of simple graphics and everyday objects, giving new meanings to familiar things. With a popularity that increased over time, Magritte was able to pursue his art full-time. He experimented with numerous styles and forms during his life and was also a primary influence on the pop art movement.

In 1927, Rene Magritte had his first one man show, which took place at the Galerie la Centaurie in Brussels. During this period of his life, he was producing nearly one piece of art work each day, which made for an extensive showing, and a variety of unique styles for visitors of the exhibit to see. But critics heaped abuse on the exhibition. Depressed by the failure, he moved to Paris where he became friends with artist Andre Breton who was the flounder of the Surrealist group. Rene became actively involved in the surrealist group, and much of the works during this time period were described as cavernous, with many of his paintings showcasing bizarre scenes, with a hint of eroticism. 

 Magritte established the paradox of clothing as a lesson in body revelation and concealment, the interplay, especially in women's clothing, between the body and its clothing in modesty, but with intimations of the body exposed

The Surrealist fascination with the eye, its optical complexity in conscious vision and in unconscious dreaming, sight and voyeurism, rendered it as both object to be seen and seeing device. As the eye could be conceived as the representation of a derationalized part of the body, its role was both rational in the analytical matters of perception and irrational in the instinctive matters of imagination.

The most voluptuous symbol of Surrealism was lips. When lips were liberated, they had the power to migrate to other parts of the body and to serve as the fundamental aperture of the beautiful woman.


Rene Magritte described his paintings saying, "My painting is visible images which conceal nothing; they evoke mystery and, indeed, when one sees one of my pictures, one asks oneself this simple question, 'What does that mean?' It does not mean anything, because mystery means nothing, it is unknowable."

The Balcony

During the course of his career, Rene Magritte would also use famous paintings, which were created by other artists, to put his own surrealist twist on it. One of the works he did, was recreate The Balcony (a piece after the masterpice of the same name, by Edouard Manet ), and in this piece he replaced the figures that were in the image, with coffins. This, was one way for Magritte to showcase his style, and to create a unique design, forcing viewers of his pieces, to look outside of the norm, and focus on the distinctive features which were not originally present. 

The Artist David Cass who came into the college does a similar technique in his postcard drawings... (see blog David Cass)