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Magritte was born in Lessines, in the province of Hainaut, in 1898, the eldest son of Léopold Magritte, a tailor, and Adeline, a milliner. He began lessons in drawing in 1910. In 1912, his mother committed suicide by drowning herself in the River Sambre. Magritte was present when her body was retrieved from the water. The image of his mother floating, her dress obscuring her face, may have influenced a 1927–1928 series of paintings of people with cloth obscuring their faces, including Les Amants, but Magritte disliked this explanation. He studied at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels for two years until 1918. In 1922 he married Georgette Berger, whom he had met in 1913.

Magritte worked as an assistant designer in a wallpaper factory, and was a poster and advertisement designer until 1926, when a contract with Galerie la Centaure in Brussels made it possible for him to paint full-time. In 1926, Magritte produced his first surreal painting, The Lost Jockey (Le jockey perdu), and held his first exhibition in Brussels in 1927. Critics heaped abuse on the exhibition. Depressed by the failure, he moved to Paris where he became friends with André Breton, and became involved in the surrealist group.

When Galerie la Centaure closed and the contract income ended, he returned to Brussels and worked in advertising. Then, with his brother, he formed an agency, which earned him a living wage.

Surrealist patron Edward James allowed Magritte, in the early stages of his career, to stay rent free in his London home and paint. James is featured in two of Magritte's pieces, Le Principe du Plaisir (The Pleasure Principle) and La Reproduction Interdite.

During the German occupation of Belgium in World War II he remained in Brussels, which led to a break with Breton. At the time he renounced the violence and pessimism of his earlier work, though he returned to the themes later.

His work was exhibited in the United States in New York in 1936 and again in that city in two retrospective exhibitions, one at the Museum of Modern Art in 1965, and the other at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1992.

Magritte died of pancreatic cancer on August 15, 1967 and was interred in Schaarbeek Cemetery, Brussels.

Popular interest in Magritte's work rose considerably in the 1960s, and his imagery has influenced pop, minimalist and conceptual art. In 2005 he came 9th in the Walloon version of De Grootste Belg (The Greatest Belgian); in the Flemish version he was 18th.]]> male Lessines, Hainaut 1898/11/21 1967/08/15 196695 1891024663 9781891024665 1 <![CDATA[Magritte]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172601994m/196695.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172601994s/196695.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/196695.Magritte 4.62 16 nouveau roman, consider Magritte's influence on modern and contemporary art. Magritte's relationships with his surrealist contemporaries Louis Scutenaire and André Breton, and the art dealers Edward James and Alexandre Iolas, are each revealed through individual art historical texts and a selection of unpublished letters. An illustrated chronology is included as well. This catalogue is published in conjunction with an exhibition at the Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume in Paris.
My painting is visible images which conceal nothing; they evoke mystery and, indeed, when one sees one of my pictures, one asks oneself this simple question "What does that mean?" It does not mean anything, because mystery means nothing either, it is unknowable. --René Magritte

Essays by Jean Roudaut, Patrick Roegiers, Daniel Abadie, Jean-Michel Goutier, Bernard Noël, Sarah Whitefeld and Renilde Hammacher.
Introduction Alain Robbe-Grillet.

Hardcover, 8.5 x 10.5 in., 272 pages, 220 color & 30 b/w illustrations

]]> 114616 3.90 319 19 2003 875717 0517530090 9780517530092 0 <![CDATA[MAGRITTE CROWN ART LIB]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/875717.MAGRITTE_CROWN_ART_LIB 4.00 3 114616 3.90 319 19 118318 4.00 5 1 1989 3175225 0810946807 9780810946804 0 <![CDATA[Magritte]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3175225.Magritte 4.50 2 114616 3.90 319 19 1996 875649 9055445622 9789055445622 0 <![CDATA[Magritte And Photography]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179107347m/875649.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179107347s/875649.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/875649.Magritte_And_Photography 4.00 2 114616 3.90 319 19 2005 1062417 9055444405 9789055444403 0 <![CDATA[Magritte: The Blue Box: Limited Edition]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1180657396m/1062417.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1180657396s/1062417.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1062417.Magritte_The_Blue_Box_Limited_Edition 5.00 1 The Blue Box is done up like a handsome book, complete with a leather-bound spine and a bas-relief frontispiece that plays the painting-of-a window-within-a-window trick. Inside is a stash of goodies, each arranged in a separate portfolio. The first contains three original etchings by Magritte, numbered and signed and stamped by the Magritte estate; next is a five-piece full-size reproduction on canvas of The Eternally Obvious, a woman split into as many parts; and last are eight reproductions each of the gouaches The Pig's Beer and Horse Preserve, printed on adhesive paper and meant to be stuck on to bottles just like the originals were. Also included is the hardback edition of Magritte, the catalogue for the Jeu de Paume exhibit (published by D.A.P. in spring 2003). Edited by Daniel Abadie.~Essays by Renilde Hammacher, Michel Butor, Patrick Roegiers, Jean Roudaut, Bernard Noël and Jean-Michel Goutier. Slipcased, 12 x 14.5 in./304 pgs / 291 color 70 BW0 duotone 12 3 B&W etchings, 5 canvas, 4 adhesive color prints~ Item D20365]]> 114616 3.90 319 19 66526 5.00 1 0 2003 196709 0810925680 9780810925687 0 <![CDATA[Magritte/Torczyner: Letters Between Friends]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/196709.Magritte_Torczyner_Letters_Between_Friends 5.00 1 114616 3.90 319 19 1994 3804994 0810921723 9780810921726 0 <![CDATA[Magritte, the true art of painting]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3804994.Magritte_the_true_art_of_painting 4.00 1 114616 3.90 319 19 114623 4.00 3 0 1979 4940327 0345026926 9780345026927 0 <![CDATA[Magritte]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4940327.Magritte 0.0 0 114616 3.90 319 19 1972 4735456 3823881876 9783823881872 0 <![CDATA[Magritte: The Collection: A Portfolio of Four Works]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4735456.Magritte_The_Collection_A_Portfolio_of_Four_Works 0.0 0 114616 3.90 319 19 1992 4420941 0900085029 9780900085024 0 <![CDATA[Magritte: [catalogue of an exhibition of paintings by Rene Magritte, 1898-1967,: Organized by the Arts Council at the Tate Gallery, 14 February to 2 April 1969]]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4420941.Magritte_catalogue_of_an_exhibition_of_paintings_by_Rene_Magritte_1898_1967_Organized_by_the_Arts_Council_at_the_Tate_Gallery_14_February_to_2_April_1969_ 0.0 0 114616 3.90 319 19 1969