La Carte Postale
Jennifer L. Giroux
LCC 250G
October 22, 2012
Analysis of “La Carte Postale” by Rene Magritte
This paper will discuss the painting “La Carte Postale” by Rene Magritte. It will compare and contract the primary relationships of focusing and scanning, position versus movement, organic versus geometric, high definition versus low definition and formal versus informal relationships as the basis for analysis. “La Carte Postale” is a formal painting with a strong sense of position. This paper will support this and suggest in detail that it is formal because Magritte has made a strong emphasis on position, focus and planning involved in the design process of the primary object of the painting. Yet at the same time Magritte has used the interplay of other primary relationships such as high and low definition, light and dark, focus and scanning in the middle and background. In theory if a painting suggests itself to be formal, it will have a strong emphasis on position, focus and planning (3). It will also have a strong central axis. This painting has a strong central axis going directly through the apple and the man. You can imagine the central vertical axis going down through his spine. By looking at this we can conclude one theme in the analysis of “La Carte Postale” by Rene Magritte that is it a formal painting. The primary focus of this painting is the apple located in the top central area of the image. The apple lies on a both a central horizontal and a central vertical axis. Although the apple is an organic item, it is nearly a perfect circle lending to the interplay of geometric and organic relationships. The man and the apple are an example of the juxtaposition of objects (4). The apple is the focal point of this painting and this lends to the idea of a strong sense of position. Because of the size of the apple, Magritte has used position as the single most important interplay of primary relationships. When a viewer looks at this painting the eye
LCC 250G
October 22, 2012
Analysis of “La Carte Postale” by Rene Magritte
This paper will discuss the painting “La Carte Postale” by Rene Magritte. It will compare and contract the primary relationships of focusing and scanning, position versus movement, organic versus geometric, high definition versus low definition and formal versus informal relationships as the basis for analysis. “La Carte Postale” is a formal painting with a strong sense of position. This paper will support this and suggest in detail that it is formal because Magritte has made a strong emphasis on position, focus and planning involved in the design process of the primary object of the painting. Yet at the same time Magritte has used the interplay of other primary relationships such as high and low definition, light and dark, focus and scanning in the middle and background. In theory if a painting suggests itself to be formal, it will have a strong emphasis on position, focus and planning (3). It will also have a strong central axis. This painting has a strong central axis going directly through the apple and the man. You can imagine the central vertical axis going down through his spine. By looking at this we can conclude one theme in the analysis of “La Carte Postale” by Rene Magritte that is it a formal painting. The primary focus of this painting is the apple located in the top central area of the image. The apple lies on a both a central horizontal and a central vertical axis. Although the apple is an organic item, it is nearly a perfect circle lending to the interplay of geometric and organic relationships. The man and the apple are an example of the juxtaposition of objects (4). The apple is the focal point of this painting and this lends to the idea of a strong sense of position. Because of the size of the apple, Magritte has used position as the single most important interplay of primary relationships. When a viewer looks at this painting the eye
References: 1. Barrett, T. (2003). INTERPRETING ART: Reflecting, Wondering, and Responding (Book). Pages 2-12;21;25-28; 33;89 2. Gablik, Suzi. Magritte. (1985). Pages 183-187 3. Paratore, Philip. Handouts. 2012 LCC250g 4. http://www.surrealism.org/magritte.html 5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Magritte