Magritte The Lovers 2 Essay

René Magritte was a Surrealist artist who has managed to retain his prominence with the simple, yet thought-provoking paintings that he created in his lifetime. By intertwining ordinary subjects with juxtapositions, Magritte was able to successfully force viewers into reconsidering what is often assumed. A well-known example of one of these artworks is The Lovers II which, as its title states, depicts two lovers – a man and a woman – kissing in the corner of a room. However, oddly enough, both of them have a white sheet draped over their heads, thus preventing them from properly “locking lips.” At first glance, it can be easy to disregard this painting as nonsensical. Except, by taking a moment to carefully analyze the components that make …show more content…
As previously mentioned, in this artwork, the main focus is on the lovers who each mysteriously have long white sheets of fabric covering their heads. It is this fact of the fabric being used as a covering for the face, like a mask, that makes the seemingly pointless sheets become very significant. By using the fabric as a mask for the two lovers, it demonstrates the concealment of the truth because something is being hidden. So, regardless of how hard the lovers try at their attempt of kissing one another, they will not succeed because there will always be that barrier that prevents genuine intimacy. This inclusion of a guise that only results in suffocation and sufferance displays how lovers, who are believed to hold a special connection, also fall victim to the hardships caused by the concealment of an identity. All in all, from the depiction of lovers with sheets over their faces, Magritte was able to portray the idea that no one – including those in a relationship – can go through life without dealing with the frustration caused by the masks we all wear, for they only leave desires to attain a genuine love connection