Get to know the Belgian surrealist in the eternal quest for magic and mystery. This introduction to Magritte presents key works from the artist's vast repertoire of visual humour, paradox and surprise, which even today compel us to repeatedly examine not only painting, but our individual condition and the world around us.

This is not a book

The everyday mystery of the leading Belgian surrealist

With his men in bowler hats floating in the sky or the painting of a pipe above the caption "This is not a pipe", René Magritte (1898-1967) created a sounding board of objects and images, names and things, reality and representation.
Like other Surrealist works, Magritte's paintings combine precise mimetic technique with unusual alienating configurations that defy the laws of scale, logic and science. A comb the size of a wardrobe, rocks floating in the sky, clouds passing through an open door: the result is a direct but disorienting world, often witty and disconcerting, which invariably impels us to try to see beyond the visible and discern 'what is hidden behind what we see'.
This introductory book explores Magritte's vast repertoire of visual humour, paradox and surprise, which even today prompts us to repeatedly examine not only painting, but our condition as individuals and the world around us.

About the author

Marcel Paquet (1947-2014) received his doctorate in 1978 from the Université Libre de Bruxelles with a thesis entitled La Différence des penseésde Kantet de Hegel dans la question de l'essence de l'art. He has also published several books on Paul Delvaux, Fernando Botero and Hans Bellmer, among others.

Publisher: Taschen