Magritte



I have just finished reading Magritte, written by Suzi Gablik. The book covered much analysis of Magritte’s work, explanation of his style and purpose, and included both images of his paintings as well as quotations from the artist himself.

 Not knowing much about him before reading, aside from seeing a few examples of his art, and his association with the surrealist movement, it was particularly interesting for me to read about the purpose behind creating these images. Magritte’s artwork challenged all societal preconceptions of common sense. He took simple, familiar subjects, and changed or combined them in ways that are completely unfamiliar to the viewer. For example: wooden figures resembling chess pieces or table legs would take the place of trees or people.  My favorites had an “inside-outside” theme: a background scene framed by a window would be continued or repeated onto a painted canvas containing the same image in the foreground.

Viewers would look for symbolism in Magritte’s paintings, but whatever was found wasn’t there by intent. Magritte desired to simply mystify by rearranging or transforming what had always been known. As Gublik writes “A person who only looks for what he wants in a painting will never find that which transcends his preferences. But, if one has been trapped by the mystery of an image which refuses all explanation, a moment of panic will sometimes occur. These moments of panic are what count for Magritte. For him they are privileged moments, because they transcend mediocrity.”

This is fascinating for me to read about, as someone who also creates art and attempts to mimic surrealism. We’ll see what else I find in the next book.