Rene Magritte 18981967 Surrealism

1
Rene Magritte1898-1967Surrealism
2
Childhood

• Born to a tailor and a milliner, he moved a lot
  around Belgium as a child. When he was 14, his
  mother drowned in a lake.
• Inspired at age 6 by seeing a painter working
  outside, he studied art, graduating in 1918.
• He married Georgette in 1922. She was an model
  for him and supplied him with paint and canvasses
  from her job at an art shop.
• -------------------------------------
• Do you like this painting? Do you think its
  funny? Did you have to look closely to see the
  easel?

3
Surrealist PainterThis is not a pipe.

• Magritte (ma-greet) wanted to invite the viewer
  into the magic of his works.
• His goal was to show ordinary objects in unusual
  contexts.
• One of his aims was to show that no matter how
  perfectly realistically an object is painted, it
  cant replace the physical object.
• ---------------------------------
• Can you actually pick the pipe off the page?
  Magritte worked in advertising for a while--can
  you tell from this picture?

4
Representational RealismSon of Man

• Magritte carefully planned his pictures and paid
  close attention to detail. His finishes are so
  perfect they dont always feel real.
• The images you see are exactly as he wanted them.
  He sketched and measured and tried colors out
  prior to starting a work.
• His titles are often deliberately confusing,
  since he wanted viewers to think about the work
  themselves.

5
LEmpire des Lumieres

• Magritte was concerned with the problems of
  perception whether what you think you see is
  actually true.
• For example, in this picture, a sunny sky
  sparkles over the deep night of the house on the
  canal. The eye knows both cant be true, but the
  picture makes it seem so.
• ----------------------------------------
• Does this picture surprise you? Does it make you
  look at it twice to really see it? Do you like
  the picture? Why or why not?

6
The Listening Room

• His works have been used as cover art for
  musicians, in songs, and in film.
• The Beatles were inspired by him to name their
  musical corporation Apple.
• Magritte wanted his works to amuse and provoke
  thought. His greatest success came late in his
  life as more people were exposed to his work.

7
La Clairvoyance

• Magritte looked at objects in different ways.
  Most of us dont look at an egg and see a bird.
• Magritte wanted the moment of shock that his
  pictures often create.
• He wanted his paintings to surprise and delight.
  He called that power poetry.
• ------------------------------------
• Does the man really look like hes painting? Do
  you think this picture is funny? Does it make
  you think about how you see everyday objects? Do
  you like this picture?

8
Time Transfixed

• When Magritte was developing his style, more
  artists were moving toward fantasy and
  imagination in their work. Many were trying to
  get art to make people examine their own lives.
• While Magrittes work has playfulness and wit, it
  is carefully controlled in a way few other
  surrealists followed.
• ----------------------------------
• What does this picture make you think about?

9
Paris surrealismAnton Breton

• For 3 years, the Magrittes lived in Paris and got
  to know the surrealists at work, including Breton
  (bray-ton), who became a close friend.
• They eventually moved back to Brussels, largely
  because they didnt feel comfortable with the
  strange personalities and odd activities in the
  Paris group.
• --------------------------------------
• What do you think of this work of Breton? Can
  you tell the dress is made of bees? Do you like
  it? Is it kind of beautiful, but creepy?

10
The Man in the Bowler Hat

• Magritte wanted an ordered and mannerly life. He
  and his wife lived outside the Paris art scene in
  a quiet life centered in Brussels.
• He painted in his dining room after carefully
  planning his canvasses.
• He usually wore a suit to paint, and often a
  bowler hat as well!
• --------------------------------------
• What do you think of this picture? Does it
  remind you of the earlier one with apple in front
  of the mans face?

11
Galconde

• For a brief period during World War II, Magritte
  experimented with an impressionist style, which
  proved unpopular with the critics. He returned
  to his surrealist palette, to increasing success.
• Pictures such as this one make the eye look twice
  and then smile. It is also a comment on how we
  live our lives.