René Magritte, Le Rendez-Vous, Georgette Magritte, Bruxelles, 1938
Belgian painter René Magritte’s dreamlike aesthetic and evocative symbols (bowler hats, cloudy dreamscapes) ensure his enduring legacy, widespread appeal, and multimillion-dollar auction prices.Yet these simple associations belie the complexity of the artist’s vision, political engagements, and important connections to major 20th-century art movements. By delving further into Magritte’s biography and late works—as well as one of his most iconic, meme-launching pictures, La Trahison des images (Ceci n’est pas une pipe) (1929),often called The Treachery of Images in English—a more complete portrait emerges of an artist who raised questions about representation and appropriation that are perhaps now more pertinent than ever.
