Les Bealeurs Personnelles

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. What if that picture was worth more than words could ever speak? What if it could define what we call reality and reshape our perception of the representation of what we define as “normal”? Belgian artist René Magritte captures the idea of reality and distorts the representation of everyday objects through his work, Les Valeurs Personnelles, or Personal Values, painted in 1952. This work not only highlights the values of the time period it was painted, it provides insight as to how art truly defines and stretches the boundaries on limitations that society has placed on the human mind, leaving no interpretation in a world full of mysteries, paradoxes, and riddles. Ask a group of people to paint what they …show more content…
Magritte’s work falls into the surrealistic art period, which started in the 1920’s. This art period consisted of illogical scenes that allowed the unconscious mind to express itself. Magritte created his own style within this time period by incorporating mimesis-the imitation of reality- into his paintings and thus producing a “Magritte effect.” What is this effect, though? Magritte’s works revolve around representing objects in a way that is new to our eye, but he also incorporates themes of disorientation and individuality. This paved way for Magritte to become an icon of the second phase of surrealism, with Salvador Dali representing the first. The second phase of surrealism revolved around psychic automatism- the accessing of material from the subconscious or unconscious mind as part of the creative process- and the reflection on the feminine. Magritte’s focus on the minutiae of everyday life-including the representation of everyday objects- defines the aspects of surrealism and makes him one of the most known artists of his time for this particular time