Fantastic Margritte...

We loved the special exhibition of Belgian surrealist artist Rene Margritte (1898-1967). This painting from 1936 is titled The Philosopher’s Lamp. Apparently this self-portrait suggests the depths of the artist’s addiction to pipe tobacco as he clearly looks impotent and pathetic.

Magritte loved confronting the viewer with an impossible image that looks deceptively real. In 1938, he explained The Red Model (1935), “The problem of the shoes demonstrates how far the most barbaric things can, through force of habit, come to be considered quite respectable.”

Luckily, Ashlynn also found this exhibit very intriguing. This is The Double Secret from 1927.

Margritte became especially famous for his paintings of a man in a bowler hat; this one called Decalcomania was painted in 1966.

He also made several paintings within paintings, such as this landscape within a landscape called The Fair Captive (1931).