Rene Magritte Research Paper

Rene Magritte Throughout the history of art, we as intellectuals have always searched for meaning behind the piece that has been created. While some artists convey a deep true meaning, there are others who dabble in the world or surrealism. Surrealism was a cultural movement that began in the early 1920’s, and aimed at expressing imaginative dreams and visions free from the conscious rational control (Dictonary.com). The purpose of surrealism was to resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality. It was a movement that welcome the use of the bizarre and dreamlike elements in paintings (Stern, Fred). Rene Magritte is probably the best known Surrealist artist of the 20th century. Rene Magritt was born in Lessiness Belgium in 1898 and entered into art school when he was 12. Rene recalls that he founded his inspiration in becoming a painter when he came across a man who was painting in the cemetery that he and his friend often played in. Magritte had also suffered tragedy at the age of 14, when his mother was found dead in a river behind his home. It is rumored that Magritte saw them pull her body out of the water, and when they were pulling her out of the water her nightgown was wrapped around her head. Some say it left him scared with a …show more content…
He is known for his more realistic renderings and would take every day ordinary objects and would place them out of context, forcing the viewer to look at it in a different perspective and question the meaning. For instance his painting named Son of Man. It is a portrait of a man in an overcoat with a bowler hat standing in front of a wall with the ocean and the clouds behind him. The mans face is largely obscured with a green apple hovering in front of his face, just enough to cover it, but leaving part of the eye exposed. Look closely at the right arm and it appears to be put on backwards from his elbow (Wikipedia). This is what Magritte said of his