René Magritte

b. 1898 and died 1967

René Magritte was a Belgian surrealist artist. He became well-known for a number of witty and thought-provoking images.

René Magritte was a Belgian surrealist artist known for thought provoking paintings and drawings. Magritte was technically skilled as a painter and able to convey extremely lifelike images, but his art was more intellectual than the beautiful images displayed.

Magritte’s work gained in popularity in the 1960s as a result of its prominence in popular culture music, movies and television, but ultimately it was his complex philosophical underpinnings of his work increased his artistic capital with museums and collectors. His juxtaposition of objects in unconventional ways challenged the way in which we see images and their utility. The images are striking in their representation of reality but the strange circumstances and relations in the picture makes one wonder why or how did this picture come about? This is the fundamental question underlying his art and much of contemporary art: what isthe meaning of the image on this painting? In this respect Magritte’s art guided many of pop and contemporary arts most important purveyors including Ed Ruscha and Andy Warhol.