Shivani Shekar
René Magritte was a Belgian surrealist artist. His works contain great detail and are often presented in thought-provoking ways. Magritte expresses hidden themes into his work which allows the viewer to take careful note of his art. His paintings are undoubtedly unique and exhibits creative ideas for the audience to consume. People tend to get confused when viewing Magritte’s work because the ideas it provokes are quite unusual. The fact that he creates unrealistic images truly impacts the connection between the work and the audience. Despite the amazing characteristics of Magritte’s work, some are unable to relate it.
The Lovers by René Magritte displays the emotions of: love, intimacy, and mystery. There are many ways one may interpret this specific painting. “My painting is visible images which conceal nothing,” he wrote, “they evoke mystery and, indeed, when one sees one of my pictures, one asks oneself this simple question, ‘What does it mean?’ It does not mean anything, because mystery means nothing either, it is unknowable.”1 On the other hand, The Human Condition is almost presented as an illusion. There is a painted canvas placed before a window where Magritte surprisingly is able to capture the exact proportion to the match the background. If not observed carefully, you would think that the canvas and the background are one. However, you are able to identify the outline of the canvas as well as the stand that the canvas is on. This specific piece can be displayed and viewed in any way. The Spirit of Geometry is actually one of Magritte’s scariest pieces of work. It shows the head of the mother and the head of the baby switched. “Magritte exchanges the heads of a mother and a baby – compressing one and enlarging the other. The effect is at once uncanny, threatening, comic and perceptive. The shrunken mature woman and imposing child may unsettle the viewer but are intimately bonded with each other. Their inverted