Rene Magritte
Rene Magritte
René François Ghislain Magrittewas a Belgian surrealist artist. He became well known for a number of witty and thought-provoking images. Often depicting ordinary objects in an unusual context, his work is known for challenging observers' preconditioned perceptions of reality. His imagery has influenced pop, minimalist and conceptual art...
NationalityBelgian
ProfessionPainter
Date of Birth21 November 1898
CityLessines, Belgium
CountryBelgium
I think we are responsible for the universe, but that doesn't mean we decide anything.
My investigations resembled the pursuit of the solution to a problem for which I had three data: the object, the thing connected with it in the shadow of my consciousness, and the light wherein that thing would become apparent.
Those who become entangled in these false ideas are prevented from perceiving the Integral Oneness.
Visible things can be invisible. However, our powers of thought grasp both the visible and the invisible – and I make use of painting to render thoughts visible.
No object is stuck with its name so irrevocably that one cannot find another which suits it better.
I want nevertheless to add that for me the world is a defiance of common sense.
Life obliges me to do something, so I paint.
If one looks at a thing with the intention of trying to discover what it means, one ends up no longer seeing the thing itself, but of thinking of the question that is raised.
If the dream is a translation of waking life, waking life is also a translation of the dream.
A thing which is present can be invisible, hidden by what it shows
Each thing we see hides something else we want to see.
Nothing is confused except the mind.
The feeling we experience while we look at a picture is not to be distinguished from the picture or from ourselves. the feeling, picture, and ourselves are united in one mystery.
I detest my past, and anyone else's. I detest resignation, patience, professional heroism and obligatory beautiful feelings. I also detest the decorative arts, folklore, advertising, voices making announcements, aerodynamism, boy scouts, the smell of moth balls, events of the moment, and drunken people.