(MENAFN– The Conversation) René Magritte is renowned for his art that is both humorous and enigmatic, foremost among which is the iconic man in the bowler hat. But despite his significant contribution to surrealism – and the fame of his works – the evolution of his artistic practice is little known.

art gallery of the New South Wales Magritte exhibition marks the first major exposure of the artist’s work in Australia, opening almost exactly 100 years after André Breton published the first Surrealist Manifesto in 1924.

The exhibition unveils four decades of Magritte’s unique artistic vision, with more than 100 works from collections in Australia, Belgium, Japan and the United States.

The man beyond the bowler hat

Magritte was born in 1898 in Lessines, Belgium. He developed a strong passion for painting very early on. At just 16 years old, he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, where he received traditional artistic training. He also worked as a graphic designer early in his career to support himself financially, creating various advertisements for magazine covers and posters.

Magritte was driven to explore and improve his artistic practice beyond the conservative aesthetic of the Belgian art scene and the limited possibilities for experimentation.

He finds his inspiration in magazines, journals and exhibition catalogs presenting avant-garde works. His first known self-portrait illustrates his early influences on Cubism. It is a double-sided work, one side of which depicts a painted portrait of Georgette Berger (who later became Magritte’s wife) playing the piano.

René Magritte ‘Self-portrait (Self-portrait) (recto)’; 1923, 1921, Sisters ‘L’ Collection © Copyright Agency, Sydney 2024, photo © Ludion Image Bank.

However, it was Magritte’s encounter with surrealist works (especially Italian artist Giorgio De Chirico’s Le Chant d’amour, with its dreamlike atmosphere) that greatly influenced his practice.

From the mid-1920s, Magritte began to develop personal and poetic images featuring familiar objects rendered realistically but arranged in unexpected combinations. It also introduces motifs that would appear throughout his career, such as curtains, toys, clouds and rocks. His first solo exhibition at the Galerie Le Centaure in Brussels marks his allegiance to surrealism.

Art as a reasoning process

The Magritte exhibition highlights the artist’s work in the context of Belgian surrealism, highlighting how he was influenced by his fellow Brussels writers, philosophers and artists.

Among these figures was the poet Paul Nougé, a founding figure of Belgian surrealism in 1926. Nougé introduced a more scientific and rationalist perspective to the Belgian movement, differentiating it from its Parisian counterpart.

Parisian Surrealism was fascinated by psychoanalysis, focusing on the irrational and the unconscious. Belgian surrealism, for its part, directs its attention towards consciousness, rationality and the search for meaning. This methodology clashes with the convictions of the Parisian surrealists.

Although Magritte worked with the Parisian Surrealists from 1927 to 1930 while living in Paris, he maintained a certain independence. He considered his artistic practice as a process of reasoning.

In Paris, Magritte developed his word pictures, as seen in The Literal Sense and the famous The Treachery of Images (more colloquially known as Ceci n’est pas une pipe), which is today considered a milestone in the history of modern European art.

René Magritte “Le sens proper” 1929, oil on canvas, 73 × 54.6 cm, The Menil Collection, Houston, 1980-09 DJ © Copyright Agency, Sydney 2024, photo: James Craven.

His approach is based on Nougé’s reflection on the nature and status of words and images, emphasizing the arbitrary nature of language. In these works, Magritte invites us to participate in a linguistic game, making us question the relationship between an object, its name and its representative image.

Back in Brussels, Magritte explored what he considered philosophical “problems” through paintings constructed in a rigorous, almost mathematical manner. He seeks to reconcile the represented object and “the thing attached to it in the shadow of consciousness” through the medium of the canvas.

In The Human Condition he addresses the “window problem” as an object through which to look and as a metaphor for traditional perspective painting, revealing how we perceive external realities through our own internal conceptualization.

René Magritte ‘The Human Condition’ 1933, oil on canvas, 100 x 81 cm, National Gallery, Washington DC, gift from the Collectors Committee, 1987.55.1 © Copyright Agency, Sydney 2024, photo © Photothèque R Magritte /Adagp Images, Paris , 2024.

“Sunny Surrealism” and Lesser-Known Works

The Magritte exhibition also highlights surprising and much lesser known works. In the mid-1930s, the artist enjoyed great recognition in Europe and beyond. However, the start of World War II led him to question the relevance of surrealism as a response to war.

He was looking for new approaches to surrealism. With “Sunny Surrealism,” he focused on images evocative of happiness, adopting an impressionist style characterized by feathery brushstrokes reminiscent of Auguste Renoir, as depicted in Un coup de chance.

René Magritte ‘Un coup de chance (La bonne fortune)’ 1945, oil on canvas, 60 × 80 cm, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels, 11689 © Copyright Agency, Sydney 2024, photo © Photothèque R Magritte / Adagp Images, Paris, 2024.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Magritte returned to the realistic style that defined his work. In his art series The Dominion of Light, he creates a paradoxical image. We observe the qualities of light at opposite times of the day, highlighting the ambiguity created by the coexistence of light and darkness.

René Magritte “The Domination of Light (The Empire of Lights)” 1954, oil on canvas, 129.9 × 94.6 cm, The Menil Collection, Houston, V 616 © Copyright Agency, Sydney 2024, photo: Paul Hester .

A continuing legacy

Magritte also influenced the next generation of artists associated with pop art and conceptual art, including those well beyond his time.

Today, its influence is evident in popular visual culture, from Pedro Almodóvar’s 2009 film Broken Embraces, to Beyoncé’s music video for Mine, which references The Lovers.

René Magritte “Les amants (Les amants)” 1928, oil on canvas, 54 × 73 cm, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 1990, 90.1583 © Copyright Agency, Sydney 2024.

Magritte’s work remains relevant today, with its exploration of perception and the porous relationship between images and reality. This theme is particularly relevant in the age of AI, where the line between the artificial and the real seems increasingly blurred.

More than 50 years after his death, Magritte continues to encourage us to think about how we perceive, experience and describe the world around us.

Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We accept no responsibility for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, please contact the provider above.