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Phaidon Colour Library
Magritte
This series acts as an introduction to key artists and movements in art history. Each title contains 48 full-page colour plates, accompanied by extensive notes, and numerous comparative illustrations in colour or black and white, a concise introduction, select bibliography and detailed source information for the images. Monographs on individual artists also feature a brief chronology.
- GenresArtNonfiction
16 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1994
26 people want to read
About the author
René Magritte
108 books78 followersRené François Ghislain Magritte was a Belgian surrealist artist. He became well known for a number of witty and thought-provoking images.
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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 16, 2013
To continue with my self education in art history, I picked up this book. Prior to reading it, I've known next to nothing about Magritte save for his famous The Son of Man, which oddly enough is not featured in this book. Other than that, this is precisely what I expect out of an art book. It was educational and accessible without being pedantic or academese. It represented Magritte as he went through different styles, although personally I'm glad he discovered de Chirico, because Magritte's surrealist work is by far his best. Seems like the man had a happy enough life and was a well adjusted individual, but there is an incredible claustrophobic darkness to his art, all to do with the loss of identity. His faceless creations and ever shifting uncertain landscapes, his clever changes of perspective and juxtapositions of animate and inanimate objects really fascinate me. The early works, Purism/Futurism/Cubism didn't really sing for me, but his later ones very interesting as well, particularly his self portraits. The book is huge, unwieldy really, but it pays off in having the large reproductions in color. Very informative book. Great introduction to an awesome artist. Highly recommended.
November 3, 2024
Dude I love looking at Magritte art. Seriously he's one of two painters I'm good at identifying and caring about, ever since my friend dragged me to an exhibit at LACMA [redacted] years ago. But bro who wrote the words in this book and some of his assertions are not as cool, by a long shot. He's always like "Magritte definitely 100% meant this Freudian interpretation I'm making up" or "This is definitely the [superlative] image Magritte did" or "Look at all the surrealistic sadism isn't it so cool." 🙄
Anyway, I read this off and on for a couple weeks and it's mostly fine because at least you're looking at the art of Magritte!
Anyway, I read this off and on for a couple weeks and it's mostly fine because at least you're looking at the art of Magritte!
February 5, 2016
I didn't know anything about Magritte, and now I do. It's not a deep dive into Magritte, but it will give you the essentials, and quite a few photos of his paintings. Magritte's work doesn't seem as deep as that of other surrealists. And it's not as whimsical or funny as some of his most popular paintings are regarded.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews