Rene Magritte was born in Belgium in the year 1898. He went on to become a master at Surrealist painting. I am sure you are familiar with some of his images even if you didn’t know he was the artist. Most everyone has seen the image with a man in a suit who has a green apple as a substitute for a face.
Magritte’s father was a tailor. His mother took her own life when Magritte was a young teen. His mother fought depression her adult life and tried on many occasions to take her own life. For a brief period his father even locked her in her own room. This is supposedly the idea behind a theme of a woman appearing wrapped or draped in a cloth. When her body was found the face was slightly covered by her dress.
Magritte began taking drawing lessons at the age of twelve.
He would join the armed forces, get married, have an exhibition that received awful reviews, and then relocate to Paris where he became involved in the Surrealist style of painting.
He worked in the advertising industry for others and then with his own firm he set up with his brother.
He had two successful exhibitions in the States in the 1930s.
Whilst starting off his young career he lived rent free at the house of James Edwards. Edwards was a well known Surrealist painter.
He was most popular during the 1960s in the art world.
Matisse passed away in 1967 at the age of 68 from pancreatic cancer. He was living in Brussels, Belgium at the time.
Here we see a wonderful collection of artworks by Magritte set to music.
If you enjoy this artist be sure and check out some other Surrealist painters I have profiled such a Salvador Dali, who was obsessed with painting time and clocks. He did many drawings, paintings, and sculptures with this as his theme. The Surrealist painters are all incredible draughtsman as you must be to incorporate items that aren’t usually seen side by side.
Here we have a clip from the series of Andy Warhol screen tests featuring Salvador Dali, I wanted to make sure you remembered his face and his flamboyant personality.
And an example of one of his signature time paintings.
Other than Dali my other favorite Surrealist painter is Hughie Lee Smith. Smith was one of few African-American artists working in the genre. I enjoy looking at his works because like Magritte and Dali they explore the universal themes such as the passage of time. Below is a fantastic example of Hughie Lee Smith’s style of Surrealist painting.
I was able to find a piece dealing with time made by Magritte. Its titled Time Tranfixed.
Price range information: Lithographs range from $3,ooo to $20,000. Etchings range from $1500 to $5,000 for most works. Watercolors start at $2,000. Bronzes range from $5,000 to $10,000.
One last thing to remember about the Surrealist artists, is that Dali has the coolest house I have ever seen! Here is a clip about it.
Create!
D
Diattaart Blog 
Leave a Reply