René Magritte

René Magritte was a Belgian Surrealist artist renowned for his thought-provoking and often witty use of symbolic language.

He began painting at age 10 and became a full-time artist at 28. Magritte’s painting style was traditional, using a simple palette and creating a smooth, flat, and detailed texture. This was a deliberate choice: he painted every element in his works realistically and recognizably, without any distortion or exaggeration. However, the relationships between the elements in his paintings are illogical, dreamlike, and contradictory, creating a sense of unreality.

A nightgown with a pair of breasts hanging in a wardrobe, plants sprouting birds’ heads, a bowl of stone fruit… Magritte consistently challenged viewers’ preconceived notions and our sensory perception of the world. He did this by placing objects where they could never exist, altering the materials of certain items, or transforming familiar objects in unexpected ways.

Interestingly, Magritte’s works are full of questions, yet he never provided answers. He once described his paintings this way: “My paintings are visible images that conceal nothing. However, they evoke a sense of mystery. When people see my paintings, they ask themselves, ‘What does this mean?’ It means nothing, because mystery itself has no meaning; it is unknowable.”

Magritte spent his later years in Brussels, Belgium, and passed away at the age of 68. By the 1960s, his work had already garnered significant public interest and acclaim. In a tribute to his contributions to art and his global influence, his portrait and the painting Golconde were featured on the 500 Belgian franc banknote. In 2005, he was named one of the “Greatest Belgians.”

In 1993, art collector André Garitte purchased and restored the apartment where Magritte once lived. On the 100th anniversary of the artist’s birth, it was opened to the public as the René Magritte Museum.