One of the most celebrated artist of the 20th century, René Magritte was a Belgian surrealist artist best known for his witty and thought-provoking images and his use of simple graphics and everyday imagery.

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About his life

After attending art school in Brussels, Rene Magritte (November 21, 1898 –  August 15, 1967) spent many years working as a commercial artist to support himself he. He produced advertising and book designs which most likely shaped his art, often characterized by the abbreviated impact of an advertisement.

While some French Surrealists led ostentatious lives, Magritte preferred the quiet anonymity of a middle-class existence, a life symbolized by the bowler-hatted men that often populate his pictures, which can be interpreted as self-portraits. In later years, he was castigated by his peers for some of his strategies (such as his tendency to produce multiple copies of his pictures), yet since his death his reputation has only improved.

image source: https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/51f0c301-a596-4eef-8a39-c0e60973e89b by cedric.vandamme

image source:https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/4bf76027-0abc-49e5-9a88-82db25ec9ca0 by Cea.

Identity and key concepts

Conceptual artists have admired his use of text in images, and painters in the 1980s admired the provocative kitsch of some of his later work.

While some French Surrealists experimented with new techniques, Magritte settled on a deadpan, illustrative technique that clearly articulated the content of his pictures.

image source: https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/8a584605-f3d1-4569-8ad1-30104f146b94 by Andrew Milligan sumo

Repetition was an important strategy for Magritte, informing not only his handling of motifs within individual pictures, but also encouraging him to produce multiple copies of some of his greatest works.

The illustrative quality of Magritte’s pictures often results in a powerful paradox: images that are beautiful in their clarity and simplicity, but which also provoke unsettling thoughts.

Magritte was fascinated by the interactions of textual and visual signs, motivated by a spirit of rational enquiry and wonder at the misunderstandings that can lurk in language.