The Philosophy Behind Rene Magritte's Art? I Behind the Masterpiece

by Panzer
The Son of Man by René Magritte is said to be the artist’s most famous piece depicting the hidden
face of a bowler-hatted subject obscured by a floating green apple. Each element is represented
through sharp focus and visual realism. He paints poetically, somehow creating both a silence,
and a thundering internal dialogue in his canvases, jolting the viewers out of complacency.
This piece was commissioned by Magritte‘s friend and patron—Harry Torczyner—who requested a
self-portrait of the artist. In the correspondence between the two however, Magritte stated that he
found it difficult to paint himself. Describing his difficulties as a "problem of conscience.”
Both the Apple and the bowler hat are recurring motifs within Magritte's oeuvre.
He repeatedly experimented with these objects,
which have since become inseparable when speaking about the artist himself. He
said in 1966 “It [the bowler hat] is a headdress that is not original. The man with the bowler is
just a middle-class man in his anonymity. And I wear it. I am not eager to singularize myself.”
This image in our minds, is not solely a creation of his, but IS Magritte himself.
Magritte never thought of himself as a painter but rather a philosopher that
utilized ordinary objects to communicate his thoughts and ideas in a visual medium.
He was unique amongst his peers because of the depth of his philosophical understanding.
The purpose of his work was to make one think for themselves.
To make both the critics and the novel art enthusiasts question their own beliefs;
What it is that they seek from art? And is the meaning of art what is shown or what is hidden?
Magritte‘s creative awakening happened in 1923 when he saw a reproduction of
Giorgio de Chirico masterpiece “the song of love.” It instantly moved him.
This painting which consists of oddly-placed objects opened up Magritte’s eyes to the
possibility of a new kind of representational painting. He described the event as one of the
most moving moments of his life. “ My eyes saw thought for the first time.”
His artistic journey was not without obstacles. His very first exhibition in 1927, fell flat.
But it created enough of a buzz around this new and up-and-coming artist that he decided to move
to Paris. There, he spent three years trying to make a name for himself among the Surrealists,
led by André Breton. A few notable paintings of his time in Paris include
“The Lovers,” “The False Mirror,” and the “Treachery of Images.”
Together, these three paintings convey what was exciting about Magritte’s work.
He acknowledges the inherent strangeness of the material world we live in, and shows us that art
is a world of its own; a world of ideas to be depicted freely, unbound to any expectations.
The surrealism that was common in France at the time involved the ideas of Automatism, and Freud's
theories of Psychoanalysis of the subconscious as seen in the works of Salvador Dali.
These concepts did not align with Magritte’s artistic ambitions;
in finding answers to the mystery of things in the world around us.
Unfortunately, he did not find the atmosphere of Paris as enjoyable as many other artists at
the time and moved back to Brussels to start an advertising agency with his brother.This
period of his life was pivotal in his works.