Rene Magritte & Surrealism Reading & Questions

1.     What is surrealism? The irrational juxtaposition of images. These images have both a real and unreal quality to them, making them surreal.

2.     What motif did Magritte use in many of his works? Why was this significant? A man wearing a ‘bowler hat’ because many men, including Magritte, dressed like this during the time period.

3.     In his work Golconda, why is it important that Magritte varied the image of the man in the bowler hat?  How does it add depth to the work? The subtle differences between the men, for instance some have their hands in their pockets, some have briefcases, some are smaller, some are larger. It adds depth because some of the men look further away because they are painted smaller than others. The larger men looking as if they were closer to the front of the painting.

4.     Why did surreal artists choose to create strange worlds with their art? To escape the real world they were being subjected to.

5.     Explain how the techniques of juxtaposition, altered scale, and language help Magritte explore Surrealism.  He enjoyed putting things in places you don’t normally come across them, or juxtaposing, objects with certain scenes to make people curious about the image and why he chose that. He also altered the scaling of certain objects to emphasis them and make the people seeing the art think about that specific point in the work and why it was put there and made so large/small. The language helps juxtapose the images also because usually the words printed on the artwork relate the art itself, however his were different because they did not relate.

6.     What would be a few reasons why Magritte would cover the faces of his subjects? Because of his troubled past and what happened to him when he was young (finding his mother dead with her head covered) or it could also be because the eyes are the window to the soul so he might be hiding the soul of his art, or his own soul from being recognized.

7.     Why did Magritte strive for realism & precision in his paintings? Because he realized he was making things that were surreal and didn’t belong together so he liked the juxtapose his images even more by making them so realistic and correctly done but in a different strange way.

8.     Google more of Magritte’s work and include 2 images that interest you.                                                  

I like this one because the ear looks like a sea shell and is way bigger than the beach which would obviously be much larger than the beach scene in the back had this been a realistic painting.

scale is used in this to emphasis the door, however not much juxtaposition is used because clouds and a beach obviously go together. But the artwork does make you think about why he put the door in the center of the painting.