Rene Magritte. Master of picturesque puzzles

(French Rene Francois Ghislain Magritte; born - November 21, 1898, Lessin, died - August 15, 1967, Brussels) - Belgian artist-surrealist. Known as the author of witty and at the same time poetically mysterious paintings.

René Magritte was viewed with suspicion. Especially doctors. Especially psychoanalysts. Those who did not notice any mental abnormalities behind this artist sharply changed their minds to the opposite after that. How did you get to know his work?

But in response to their encroachments, the artist himself, not without sarcasm, argued that the best patient for a psychoanalyst is another other psychoanalyst. And the most popular in those days, Sigmund Freud, was not taken seriously at all. But he continued to draw apples and faces, mirrors with fantastic reflections, coffins for the sitting dead and other oddities and incomprehensibility.

Rene spent his childhood and youth in the small industrial city of Charleroi. Life was hard.

Rene Magritte "Son of Man", 1964.

In 1912, his mother drowned herself in the Sambre River, which apparently had a great influence on the then-teenager future artist. When the corpse was found, its head was carefully wrapped in a light gauze cloth.

This is probably why a special place in Magritte's work is occupied by faces, or rather, their absence. Most often, the face in the portrait is either covered by a foreign object, or wrapped in cloth, or simply the back of the head or another part of the body is depicted instead of the face.

Magritte brought back from childhood a number of other, not so tragic, but no less mysterious memories, about which he himself said that they were reflected in his work.

Beginning in 1916, Magritte studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, and left the Academy in 1918. At the same time, he met Georgette Berger, whom he married in 1922 and lived with until his death in 1967.

The Menaced Assassin - 1927

Magritte's paintings are characterized by a detached, as it were, imperturbable style. They depict ordinary objects that Magritte, unlike other major surrealists (Dali, Ernst), almost never lose their “objectivity”: they do not spread, do not turn into their own shadows. However, the very strange combination of these objects is striking and makes you think. The equanimity of style only exacerbates this surprise and plunges the viewer into a kind of poetic stupor caused by the very mystery of things.

At the age of 14, Rene meets a girl named Georgette. A few years later, she becomes his wife, lover, muse, colleague and friend - the artist's only female model. There were no other women in his life. Beautiful face Georgette is elusive in the paintings of Magritte. It is hazy and encrypted, like an elusive beauty.

The Meaning of Night 1927

The goal of Magritte, by his own admission, is to make the viewer think. Because of this, the artist’s paintings often resemble puzzles that cannot be completely solved, since they raise questions about the very essence of being: Magritte always talks about the deceitfulness of the visible, about its hidden mystery, which we usually do not notice. There is a cycle of works by the artist in which he writes under ordinary objects: this is not him. Particularly popular is the painting "Treachery of Images", which depicts a smoking pipe with the caption "This is not a pipe." Thus, Magritte again reminds the viewer that the image of the object is not the object itself.

He, like Dali and other surrealists, transferred dreams and thoughts to the canvas. but he hated it when critics called him a surrealist. “I am a magical realist,” Magritte said to himself.

At the age of 18, Rene went to study at the Brussels Academy fine arts, where he quickly realized that for him to transfer details to the canvas real life- mortal anguish. Here he “falls ill” with cubism and futurism in the spirit of Fernand Léger, but is cured by becoming acquainted with the work of Max Ernst and Giorgio de Chirico.

Time Transfixed 1938

In general, the names of paintings play a special role in Magritte. They are almost always poetic and, at first glance, have nothing to do with the image itself. And it was precisely in this that the artist himself saw their significance: he believed that the hidden poetic connection between the name and the picture contributes to that magical surprise that Magritte saw as the purpose of art.

In 1921, Magritte was drafted into the army, and a year later, upon returning to civil life, got a job as a draftsman at a wallpaper factory, where he spent hours writing roses on paper in the smallest details(roses would later become one of the leitmotifs of his paintings - a symbol of fatal and unsafe beauty - “The Grave of a Fighter”, 1961). Then, together with his brother, he opens an advertising agency, which allowed them to soon forget about pressing problems.

In 1930 there was a break with Breton. Magritte returns to Brussels and, together with Paul Delvaux, becomes one of the leaders of the surrealist movement here. During this fruitful period of activity, Magritte created a number of paintings with mysterious and poetic subjects, including his most often copied painting, The State of Man (1935). The image of the sea in the painting on an easel standing in front of an open window miraculously merges with the “real” sea view from the window.

When the Germans occupied Belgium in 1940, Magritte first spent three months in exile in Carcassonne (France), and then returned to Brussels, where he survived the war. Immediately after the war, Magritte decided to paint with sweeping strokes, in the style of Renoir and Matisse, explaining this by the need to find joy as opposed to the general pessimism of those years. This period in the work of Magritte is most often called the period “ bright sun” (“plein soleil”). But the motives of impressionism and fauvism in the work of the master of mystery paintings did not convince the public and criticism, and by 1948 the artist returned to his own style.

“I take an arbitrary object or topic as a question,” he wrote, “and then set about looking for another object that could serve as an answer. To become a candidate for an answer, the object being sought must be connected to the question object by a set of arcane links. If the answer suggests itself in all clarity, then the connection between the two objects is being established.” And again: “For me, thought initially consists only of visible things, and it itself can become visible thanks to painting.” Rene Magritte

In the 50s, the artist creates some of his most famous works. Among them is the painting "Golconda" (1953). The artist depicted dozens of neatly dressed rentiers (with bowler hats, ties and fashionable coats) hovering in a boundless space, while maintaining absolute equanimity. Golconda - ancient city in India, which has become synonymous with countless treasures and riches, because it was here that many famous diamonds and other precious stones. The people in the picture seem to be attracted by the treasures of Golconda.

In 1950-1960, the paintings of Rene Magritte shook the US art market, where only his exhibitions were held for a whole season. Money poured in from all sides, but this man with the face of a kind pharmacist, as his relatives claimed, remained true to himself: no bohemia, a modest dwelling, a quiet workshop and riding his favorite form of transport - the tram.

Magritte died on August 15, 1967, at the age of 69, from cancer, leaving a new version of his perhaps most famous painting, Empire of Light, unfinished. She forever remained in their room on an easel. Georgette said, turning to her husband: “In one thing you were mistaken - in the limbs own life, in the victory of death over all. You remained alive not only for me, but for all those who look at your paintings: after all, you are all in them. I look at them and talk to you and argue like I always do. You still did what you dreamed of. You penetrated the looking glass, but remained. You have conquered death."

He sought to destroy habitual presentation about the well-known, unchanging, to make the object see in a new dimension, confusing the viewer. In his canvases, he created a world of fantasy and dreams from real things, immersing viewers in an atmosphere of dreams and mystery. The artist brilliantly knew how to "direct" their feelings. It would seem that the world created by the artist is static and solid, but the surreal always invades the ordinary, destroying this familiar world (an ordinary apple in a room, growing, displaces people or a steam locomotive jumps out of the fireplace at full speed - “Pierced Time”, 1938).

Here I posted paintings by Rene Magritte with titles. Also a few facts about the character and philosophy of this man. Those wishing to learn more about the biography of this artist, I advise you to watch the film Monsignor Magritte.

I put off this post for a long time, not because I don't like Rene Magritte, but rather the opposite because of the significance of this phenomenon. Actually, in my understanding, the pillars of surrealism in painting are two people: Salvador Dali and Rene Magritte. They are like Tolkien and Lewis in fantasy. Magritte and Dali have had and continue to influence all surrealists.

However, these were two completely different person as different as their pictures differ. Rene Magritte, in contrast to Dali, and to all other surrealists, did not like to shock the public, did not put up fights, did not use fly agarics for inspiration, and spent his whole life with one woman - his wife Georgette, the main muse, kindred spirit and a sitter.

Philosophy of Rene Magritte

What is curious is that the man who, along with Dali, is considered a classic of surrealism, did not even recognize the philosophy of this movement, in which psychoanalysis occupied one of the main places. The Belgian believed that creativity could not be analyzed, that it was a riddle, a philosophical puzzle, but not the subject of Freudian analysis.

Given this philosophy, it is not surprising that many of his works often cause bewilderment and the feeling that the artist is making fun of you. Obviously, such ambiguity and symbolism contributed to the fact that many parodies and installations were created on his paintings. Especially popular in this regard is the painting “son of man”.

Quite a decent burgher :) This is not Dali for you with his space suit :)

In general, Magritte was a quiet, calm person, and the most interesting things happened in his head. Perhaps that is why so few films have been made about Rene Magritte, unlike Dali.

I will not dryly list the facts from his biography here, 100,500 other people have already done this for me. I don't think that's what people go to the blog for, after all, that's what pediwiki is for. If you want to get acquainted with the biography of this artist, I advise you to watch the film Monsieur Rene Magritte (Monsieur Rene Magritte) 1978. This is more interesting than reading a dry Wikipedia text (with all due respect to pediviki).

Paintings by Rene Magritte with titles

Everything that this man wanted to tell us - he said with his paintings. The paintings of Rene Magritte, in contrast to the stormy pressure of Dali's whimsical visions, are more calm and philosophical. In addition, Magritte's canvases are imbued with a very peculiar sense of humor. What is worth only his picture of a pipe, with a signature at the bottom - this is not a pipe.

La Philosophie dans le boudoir (Philosophy in the boudoir)

La Magie noire Black magic) They say that all female images in his paintings are images of his wife. Looking at this picture, you begin to understand why he lived his whole life with one woman. In my opinion, much prettier than Gala.
La Memoire (Memory).
Cosmogonie Elementaire (Elementary Cosmogony).
La Naissance de l'idole (Birth of an idol).
La Belle captive (The Beautiful Captive).
L'Invention collective (Collective invention), painting by Rene Magritte.
Les Amants (The Lovers), Rene Magritte, paintings, surrealism. Le Therapeute II (Therapist II), Rene Magritte, artists, surrealism.

Le Fils de l'homme (Son of Man), Rene Magritte. One of the artist's most famous paintings.
Le Faux miroir (Fake mirror),
Le Coup au coeur (Strike to the heart)

Alogism, absurdity, a combination of the incongruous, paradoxical visual variability of images and figures - this is the basis of the foundations of surrealism. The founder of this trend is considered to be who, at the heart of surrealism, saw the embodiment of the theory of the subconscious of Sigmund Freud. It was on this basis that many representatives of the direction created masterpieces that did not reflect objective reality, but were just the embodiment of individual images inspired by the subconscious. The canvases painted by the surrealists could not be the product of either good or evil. All of them evoked different emotions. different people. Therefore, we can say with confidence that this direction of modernism is quite controversial, which contributed to its rapid spread in painting and literature.

Surrealism as illusory and literature of the XX century

Salvador Dali, Paul Delvaux, Rene Magritte, Jean Arp, Max Ernst, Giorgio de Chirico, Yves Tanguy, Michael Parkes and Dorothy Tanning are the pillars of surrealism that emerged in France in the 1920s. This direction was not territorially limited to France, spreading to other countries and continents. Surrealism greatly facilitated the perception of cubism and abstract art.

One of the main postulates of the surrealists was the identification of the energy of creators with the subconscious of a person, which manifests itself in a dream, under hypnosis, in delirium during an illness, or random creative insights.

Distinctive characteristics of surrealism

Surrealism is a complex direction in painting, which many artists understood and understand in their own way. Therefore, it is not surprising that surrealism developed in two conceptual different directions. Miro, Max Ernst, Jean Arp and André Masson can be safely attributed to the first branch, in whose works the main place was occupied by images that smoothly turn into abstraction. The second branch takes as a basis the embodiment of an unreal image generated by the subconscious of a person, with illusory accuracy. Salvador Dali, who is an ideal representative of academic painting, worked in this direction. It is his works that are characterized by an accurate transmission of chiaroscuro and a careful manner of writing - dense objects have tangible transparency, while solid ones spread, massive and three-dimensional figures acquire lightness and weightlessness, and incompatible ones can unite together.

Biography of Rene Magritte

On a par with the works of Salvador Dali is the work of Rene Magritte, a famous Belgian artist who was born in the city of Lesin in 1898. In the family, except for Rene. there were two more children, and in 1912 a misfortune happened that affected the life and work of the future artist - his mother died. This was reflected in Rene Magritte's painting "In Memory of Mack Sennett", which was painted in 1936. The artist himself claimed that the circumstances did not affect his life and work.

In 1916, Rene Magritte entered the Brussels Academy of Arts, where he met his future muse and wife Georgette Berger. After graduating from the Academy, Rene worked on the creation of promotional materials, and treated this rather dismissively. Futurism, Cubism and Dada had a huge impact on the artist, but in 1923 Rene Magritte first saw the work of Giorgio de Chirico "Song of Love". It was this moment that became the starting point for the development of the surrealist Rene Magritte. At the same time, the formation of a current in Brussels began, and Rene Magritte became its representative along with Marcel Lekamte, André Suri, Paul Nouget and Camille Gemans.

The work of Rene Magritte.

The works of this artist have always been controversial and attracted a lot of attention.

At first glance, the painting by Rene Magritte is filled with in strange ways, which are not only mysterious, but also ambiguous. Rene Magritte did not touch upon the issue of form in surrealism, he put his vision into the meaning and meaning of the picture.

Many artists pay special attention to titles. Especially Rene Magritte. Pictures with the names "This is not a pipe" or "Son of man" awaken the thinker and philosopher in the viewer. In his opinion, not only the picture should encourage the viewer to show emotions, but the title should also surprise and make you think.
As for descriptions, many surrealists gave a brief annotation to their canvases. Rene Magritte is no exception. Paintings with descriptions have always been present in the advertising activities of the artist.

The artist himself called himself a "magic realist". His goal was to create a paradox, and the public should draw its own conclusions. Rene Magritte in his works always clearly drew a line between the subjective image and the real reality.

Painting "Lovers"

Rene Magritte painted a series of paintings "Lovers" in 1927-1928 in Paris.

The first picture shows a man and a woman who have merged in a kiss. Their heads are wrapped in white cloth. The second canvas depicts the same man and woman in white cloth, who look from the picture to the public.

The white fabric in the artist's work causes and caused heated discussions. There are two versions. According to the first white fabric in the works of Rene Magritte appeared in connection with the death of his mother in early childhood. His mother jumped off the bridge into the river. When her body was removed from the water, a white cloth was found wrapped around her head. As for the second version, many knew that the artist was a fan of Fantômas, the hero of the popular movie. Therefore, it may be that the white fabric is a tribute to the passion for cinema.

What is this picture about? Many people think that the painting "Lovers" personifies blind love: falling in love, people stop noticing someone or something other than their soul mate. But people remain mysteries to themselves. On the other hand, looking at the kiss of lovers, one can say that they lost their heads from love and passion. The painting by Rene Magritte is filled with mutual feelings and experiences.

"Son of Man"

Rene Magritte's painting "The Son of Man" calling card"Magical Realism" and Rene Magritte's self-portrait. It is this work that is considered one of the most controversial works of the master.

The artist hid his face behind an apple, as if saying that everything is not as it seems, and that people constantly want to get into a person’s soul and understand the true essence of things. The painting by Rene Magritte both hides and reveals the essence of the master himself.

Rene Magritte played an important role in the development of surrealism, and his work continues to excite the minds of more and more new generations.

In 1978, Adrian Maben made a film about the great Rene Magritte. Then the whole world learned about the artist, and yet his paintings were worthy of becoming immortal from the very beginning. Magritte painted in the style of surrealism, and he was boldly put on the same level as Salvador Dali. Magritte was very witty in his work. See for yourself: they deserve admiration.

Son of man, 1964

Scheherazade, 1948

The most amusing thing about the artist's style was that he did not draw incomprehensible images, but used quite primitive things as components of the picture. It seems that all the objects are recognizable, but the result is some unimaginable sur (surprise!).

Perpetual motion, 1935

Moreover, Magritte himself said that he “sews” a thought into each picture, and images are not a stupid heap of elements, but an independent story.

The Pleasure Principle, 1937

Companions of fear, 1942

The researchers say that if you evaluate all the paintings of the artist, you can create a fairly clear idea of ​​​​his inner world.

This is not an apple, 1964

Big family, 1967

Great War, 1964

Serene Sleeper, 1927

The artist was born on November 21, 1898 in the city of Lessin. When he was 14, Rene's mother drowned herself in the Sambre River, which was a huge shock for the child. For some reason, it is generally accepted that this fact did not influence Magritte's work, but there is certainly a relationship.

Lovers, 1928

Lovers II, 1928

Golconda, 1953

Two secrets, 1966

Apparently, as compensation for his difficult childhood, at the age of 15, the boy falls in love with Georgette Berger, and she becomes his the only woman for life. He devotes all his paintings to her, she acts as his only model, he remains faithful to her. A respectable love story! When he turns 22, they get married, by that time Magritte has long been a graduate of the art academy.

Georgette Magritte, 1934

Magritte with Georgette

On the wave of love, the future talent admires the works of other masters (then cubism was in vogue), and begins to earn extra money as a house painter and poster artist.

Therapist, 1937

Philosophical lamp, 1936

Magritte's first exhibition was held in 1927. Then he read a lot, moved in a circle of philosophers and respected writers, studied psychoanalysis, so all his paintings were full of deep content and meaning. But he did not like psychoanalysis and did not consider himself a surrealist, since critics of his paintings tried to “dissect” his character based on his works. We got to the Oedipus complex, remembered the dead mother, and then Magritte got angry.

“It is terrible to see what kind of mockery a person who has made one innocent drawing can be subjected to ... Perhaps psychoanalysis itself - best theme for the psychoanalyst.

Rape, 1934

Meditation, 1936

In the 1950s came to him world recognition, paintings were exhibited in Rome, London, New York, in general, in the best galleries on the planet. His art has often been referred to as "waking dreams".

Audition room, 1952

Red model, 1935

Crooked mirror, 1928

Collective invention, 1942

The artist elaborated:

"My paintings are not sleepy dreams, but awakening dreams."

Of course, his paintings are drawn in different styles and techniques: art deco, post-impressionism, cubism, surrealism, all kinds of materials were used in the works (from gouache to applications), but he gained fame precisely because of the atypical surrealism in his works.

Midnight in marriage, 1926

In 1967, René died of pancreatic cancer. Almost 50 years have passed, and his work still excites and pleases people. And this means that the artist can safely be considered a classic.

Unfinished painting, 1954

Bella Adzeeva

The Belgian artist Rene Magritte, despite his undoubted belonging to surrealism, has always stood apart in the movement. Firstly, he was skeptical about perhaps the main passion of the entire group of Andre Breton - Freud's psychoanalysis. Secondly, Magritte's paintings themselves do not look like either the crazy plots of Salvador Dali or the bizarre landscapes of Max Ernst. Magritte used mostly ordinary everyday images - trees, windows, doors, fruits, figures of people - but his paintings are no less absurd and mysterious than the work of his eccentric colleagues. Without creating fantastic objects and creatures from the depths of the subconscious, the Belgian artist did what Lautreamont called art - he arranged "a meeting of an umbrella and a typewriter on the operating table", combining banal things in an unbanal way. Art critics and connoisseurs still offer new interpretations of his paintings and their poetic titles, almost never associated with the image, which once again confirms that Magritte's simplicity is deceptive.

© Photo: Rene MagritteRene Magritte. "Therapist". 1967

Rene Magritte himself called his art not even surrealism, but magical realism, and was very distrustful of any attempts at interpretation, and even more so the search for symbols, arguing that the only thing to do with paintings is to consider them.

© Photo: Rene MagritteRene Magritte. "Reflections of a Lonely Passerby". 1926

From that moment on, Magritte periodically returned to the image of a mysterious stranger in a bowler hat, depicting him on sandy shore sea, now on the city bridge, now in the green forest or facing mountain landscape. There could be two or three strangers, they stood with their backs to the viewer or half-sided, and sometimes - as, for example, in the painting High Society (1962) (can be translated as " high society"- ed.) - the artist marked only the contour of a man in a bowler hat, filling it with clouds and foliage. Most famous paintings, depicting a stranger - "Golconda" (1953) and, of course, "The Son of Man" (1964) - Magritte's most replicated work, parodies and allusions to which are so common that the image already lives separately from its creator. Initially, Rene Magritte painted the picture as a self-portrait, where the figure of a man symbolized modern man who lost his individuality, but remained the son of Adam, who is unable to resist temptations - hence the apple that covers his face.

© Photo: Volkswagen / Advertising Agency: DDB, Berlin, Germany

"Lovers"

Rene Magritte quite often commented on his paintings, but left one of the most mysterious - "Lovers" (1928) - without explanation, leaving room for interpretation by art critics and fans. The former again saw in the picture a reference to the artist’s childhood and the experiences associated with the mother’s suicide (when her body was taken out of the river, the woman’s head was covered by the hem of her nightgown - ed.). The simplest and most obvious of existing versions- "love is blind" - does not inspire confidence among specialists, who often interpret the picture as an attempt to convey isolation between people who are unable to overcome alienation even in moments of passion. Others see here the impossibility of understanding and knowing to the end close people, others understand "The Lovers" as a realized metaphor for "losing one's head with love."

In the same year, Rene Magritte painted a second painting called "Lovers" - on it the faces of a man and a woman are also closed, but their poses and background have changed, and the general mood has changed from tense to peaceful.

Be that as it may, "Lovers" remains one of the most recognizable paintings by Magritte, the mysterious atmosphere of which is borrowed by today's artists - for example, the cover refers to it. debut album British group Funeral for a Friend Casually Dressed & Deep in Conversation (2003).

© Photo: Atlantic, Mighty Atom, FerretAlbum by Funeral For a Friend, "Casually Dressed & Deep in Conversation"

"Treachery of images", or It's not ...

The names of paintings by Rene Magritte and their connection with the image is a topic for a separate study. "Glass Key", "Achieving the Impossible", "Human Destiny", "Obstruction of the Void", " beautiful world", "Empire of Light" are poetic and mysterious, they almost never describe what the viewer sees on the canvas, and one can only guess what meaning the artist wanted to put into the name in each individual case. "The names are chosen in such a way that they do not allow me to place my paintings in the realm of the familiar, where the automatism of thought will certainly work to prevent anxiety, "Magritte explained.

In 1948, he created the painting "Treachery of Images", which became one of the most famous works Magritte, thanks to the inscription on it: from inconsistency, the artist came to denial, under the image of a pipe, writing "This is not a pipe." "That famous pipe. How people reproached me with it! And yet, you can fill it with tobacco? No, it's just a picture, isn't it? So if I wrote under the picture "This is a pipe", I would be lying !" the artist said.

© Photo: Rene MagritteRene Magritte. "Two Secrets" 1966

© Photo: Allianz Insurances / Advertising Agency: Atletico International, Berlin, Germany

Sky Magritte

The sky with clouds floating across it is such an everyday and used image that it seems impossible to make it the "calling card" of a particular artist. However, Magritte's sky cannot be confused with someone else's - more often due to the fact that in his paintings it is reflected in fancy mirrors and huge eyes, fills the contours of birds and, together with the horizon line from the landscape, imperceptibly passes to the easel (series "Human Destiny "). The serene sky serves as a background for a stranger in a bowler hat ("Decalcomania", 1966), replaces the gray walls of the room ("Personal Values", 1952) and is refracted in three-dimensional mirrors ("Elementary Cosmogony", 1949).

© Photo: Rene MagritteRene Magritte. "Empire of Light" 1954

The famous "Empire of Light" (1954), it would seem, is not at all like the work of Magritte - in the evening landscape, at first glance, there was no place for unusual objects and mysterious combinations. And yet there is such a combination, and it makes the picture "Magritte" - a clear daytime sky over a lake and a house plunged into darkness.