Magritte
Magritte, Rene
ACHIEVEMENTS: Surrealist Painter
NICKNAME/ALIAS:
DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: Nov. 21, 1898. Lessines, Belgium
DATE/PLACE OF DEATH/AGE AT DEATH: Aug. 15, 1967. Brussels. 69.
DISCIPLINE: Arts
FIELD: Painter
LANGUAGE: French
PARENTS: Régina Bertinchamp, Leopold Magritte
SIBLINGS: Paul, Raymond
SPOUSE: Georgette Berger
CHILDREN: No
EDUCATION: Academie Royale des Beaux-Arts (Brussels Academy of Fine Arts)
MAJOR WORK:
LIFE AND TIMES:
Belgian born Rene Magritte is known for his surrealist works; however, in addition to his talent as a painter, he was also an accomplished draughtsman, printmaker, sculptor, photographer and film maker.
According to Magritte, words (like symbols) did not represent the true meaning of objects; instead, he believed that the relationship between an object and its name was completely arbitrary. Like most Surrealists, he sought to display this arbitrary connection between object and word in his works.
His first show was in his family’s entryway, where he hung a picture of a horse. In hindsight the actions of the young Magritte showed the seeds of his Surrealism; for instance, he hung pictures of cats on the doorbells of all the respectable citizens. Magritte's father was a tailor and merchant and his mother was a milliner. Business was bad and the family often moved. When Magritte was fourteen his mother drowned herself into the River Sambre. The family was devastated and moved to Charleroi to escape their grief.
In 1916 Magritte enrolled in the Academie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. After two years of study he designed his first advertising poster for Pot au Feu Derbait, an instant bouillon company. These advertising posters were the first art works he publicly displayed. In 1921 he took a full-time job as a designer with Peters-Lacroix, a wallpaper manufacturer.
Two years later he encountered De Chirico’s painting The Love Song, which had a lasting impact on his personal and professional life. The following year, he sold his first painting, a portrait of the singer Evelyne Brélia. Despite moderate success and a government grant, Magritte was not able to support himself.
Magritte and his wife, Georgette Berger, met early in their lives, and then again by chance while walking in a botanical gardens in 1920. They married two years later and Georgette became the only model for his work.
In 1926 Magritte took an active role in the foundation of the Belgian Surrealist movement. Other members of the group included Nouge, Goemans, and Souris. Belgian theories of Surrealism developed independently from those of the French Surrealists. Surrealism had its roots in Dadaism (1916); in fact, many Dadaists, such as Breton*, Arp*, Tzara*, tired of their views of nihilism and destruction and were vital in the establishment of Surrealism.
Both movements emphasized the role of the unconscious in creative activity, but Surrealism employed the unconscious in a more orderly manner.
Magritte and Georgette moved to Paris in 1927, where he was introduced to Breton, Paul Éluard, and Max Ernst. In time, Magritte became disgusted with the superficial methods of the Parisian Surrealists; he did not agree with their dependence on dreams, drugs, and magic for their artistic vision.
The Magrittes moved back to Brussels three years later. One night Magritte burned all possessions reminding him of his connections with Surrealism. Unlike the other Surrealists, Magritte did not want to juxtapose unrelated objects to create new definitions; instead, he believed that all objects were rationally related to other objects.
By 1929, he was involved again with the larger Surrealist group. That summer Magritte and his wife, director and writer Bunuel*, and the French poet Paul Éluard with his wife Gala went to Cadaqués to visit Dalí*. It was far from an uneventful visit. Dalí fell madly in love with Gala, and within a week he proposed marriage; she agreed to divorce her husband and marry Dalí.
Four months later, another split occurred, this time between Magritte and the Parisian Surrealists. During a holiday party, Breton asked Georgette to remove a cross she was wearing around her neck and the Magrittes left in disgust. However, four years later the rift was healed when Breton asked Magritte to contribute to the review Le Surrealisme au service de la revolution.
When the Germans invaded Belgium in 1940, Magritte left for France; however, he was able to return to Brussels in August. Despite the fact that the Surrealists had officially split from the Communist Party in 1935, ten years later Magritte joined the Belgian Communist Party. After 18 months his enthusiasm for the party had dwindled, but not his faith in Communism.
Although Magritte was known as being more serious and reserved than his contemporaries, the late 1940s saw a more playful Magritte. In 1946 Magritte, Nouge, and Marien produced three anonymous tracts entitled L’Imbecile, L’Emmerdeur, and L’Enculeur—most were seized by postal authorities. They also produced a hoax prospectus announcing a lecture series by a Bulgarian sexologist.
Throughout that same year, Magritte sent many anonymous letters and parcels: Gide* received a packet of fake detective stories and over five weeks the neighborhood grocer received packages containing macaroni bought in his own shop.
Despite Magritte’s sense of humor, the problems between Magritte and the other surrealists reemerged in 1946. That year Magritte wrote a manifesto for a “new Surrealism” and Breton strongly opposed it. The following year Breton publicly condemned “sunlit Surrealism,” which signaled Magritte’s excommunication. Though he continued to produce works that were “surrealist” in style, Magritte never reconciled with the other Surrealists.
Always experimenting with form, the 1950s saw exhibitions of Magritte’s calligrams or word-pictures. In 1956 Magritte bought a movie camera and began to make short films featuring himself, Georgette, and other friends. In his last year he supervised the construction of eight bronze sculptures derived from images in his paintings.
When Magritte died at the age of 69, he had finally gained wide recognition for his work.
ASSESSMENT: Magritte was one of the most prominent Surrealist painters. His fantastic artistic vision blended horror, peril, comedy, and mystery.
EXTRA CONNECTIONS:
Choreographer Massine* used his ideas in a collaboration with Dali
He knew the Spanish writer Lorca*
ONELINER: Rene Magritte, influential surrealist painter
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Encyclopedia Britannica.
“Biography of Rene Magritte,” Brain Juice (Accessed January 9 2003). http://www.brain-juice.com/cgi-bin/show_bio.cgi?p_id=22
Gablik, Suzi. Magritte. Greenwich: New York Graphic Society (1970).
“Magritte, René’, The Grove Dictionary of Art Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed January 8, 2003). http://www.groveart.com
“Magritte Biography” : http://www.magritte.com/2.cfm
“René Magritte-Childhood to Early Adult Life (1898-1922),” BBC (Accessed January 10, 2003). http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A636202