René Magritte Belgian, 1898-1967

Well known Belgian painter and Surrealist René Magritte (b. 1898-1967) produced a body of work that rendered commonplace objects, strange. Recognizable icons of Magritte’s work include clouds, pipes, bowler hats, and green apples. Magritte posed questions about the nature of representation and reality through pictorial and linguistic puzzles.

Beginning his career as a graphic artist and quasi-abstract painter, Magritte’s work underwent a major transformation in 1926, when he began reinventing himself as a figurative artist. In 1927, Magritte moved to Paris to be closer to the French Surrealist Group and his three years there would prove to be the most prolific years of his life. His Surrealist masterpieces tantalize and distort reality, evoking a singular sense of mystery within the viewer. Magritte’s approach to painting and sculpture avoided stylistic distractions of modern art making. Recently discovered in 1970, his films and photographs reveal how he used these art forms to explore the bounds of his imagination. These works were the subject of a major exhibition, René Magritte: The Revealing Image, Photos and Films, recently at the Latrobe Gallery in Victoria, Austria (August – November, 2017).