1. 1346008 Park Dasol (99-50)
Rene Magritte, Impressive Artist
La Trahison des Images is a painting that got me interested in Rene Francois Ghislain
Magritte and his works. When I was 13 years old, I went to the Seoul National Art Museum to
meet Rene Magritte for the first time. Under the image of a pipe, Magritte writes ‘Ceci n'est pas
une pipe’, which means ‘this is not a pipe’. Despite the image of a pipe, Magritte insists that the
picture itself is not a real pipe. Soon, that painting interested me, and I am still a big fan of Rene
Magritte for his unique drawing patterns and repeated objects in his paintings.
First, I really love to interpret hidden meanings of Magritte’s artwork. Rene Magritte is a
famous surrealist artist, and like many other surrealists, he draws unrelated objects together in
one painting in order to represent unconscious thoughts and dreams. For example, Rene
Magritte’s famous piece, Collective Invention also combines two different objects, a fish and a
human, and implicates meanings in it. What is interesting is that people can interpret this painting
in several different ways. By looking at the image of a creature which is half fish and half human,
some might feel uncomfortable, while others might find it appealing. For me, I thought the
painter intended to distort our common perception toward mermaids by switching the positions
of a fish and a human. In addition to Collective Invention, most of Magritte’s works give viewers
opportunity to think about hidden messages, and I really like to find underlying meanings and
share those with others.
Second, I like the way Magritte uses repeated objects in his paintings. He uses particular
objects such as a pipe, apple, bird, man wearing a hat, etc. in his paintings repeatedly.
Interestingly, the repeated object in each painting shows different styles, and it is a lot of fun to
compare the differences between paintings with same object. For instance, while Goncolada and
La Reconnaissance Infine both contain a man wearing a hat, they seem to represent different
2. meanings. In the case of Goncolada, Magritte draws and depicts a lot of men raining from the
sky, but in La Reconnaissance Infine, there are only two men talking to each other while floating
in the sky. By looking at the first picture, I felt the painter wanted to show the consistency of
modern people. On the other hand, I felt peaceful by looking at the two men talking on the
cloud. I love to experience the freshness from the same object in different artworks, and
Magritte’s works definitely reflect my needs.
In conclusion, Rene Magritte is my favorite artist as he uses a unique style which
stimulates my imagination, and creates freshness by using repeated objects in many of his works.
Interpreting hidden meanings of each art piece and sharing ideas with others is a good
experience. Also, I was surprised to notice that artists can create a variety of refreshing paintings
with restricted objects.