Sunday Art Snapshot: René Magritte
Exploration of the Illusion of Perception
Hi! I'm Gabi from FlashFacts. Click on the “subscribe” button and leave your email to receive daily quick facts on a wide range of topics, packed into concise, 100-word flashes of knowledge. Perfect for a daily read that takes less than a minute!
René Magritte painted “The Treachery of Images” when he was 30 and living in Paris, and made it part of a series of paintings featuring images paired with words.
This iconic painting shows a pipe with a caption in French “Ceci n'est pas une pipe” (“This is not a pipe”). It's a classic Surrealist trick — Magritte reminds us that we’re looking at a painting, not the real thing, challenging how we interpret images and words.
Brussels is home to the largest collection of Magritte’s art, and perhaps you would like to visit it if you find yourself in Belgium.
If you want to find out more about Belgium, read this post from my Journey Jots publication: Belgium’s Industrial Masterpieces: The Canal du Centre Boat Lifts.
Thank you for the comment! Yes, this is planned as a regular Sunday quick fact about one painting I choose, the last one was the artist Una Watters https://flashfacts.substack.com/p/art-in-a-snapshot. You are subscribed to the FlashFacts publication so you won't miss the next one :)
What an interesting look into fine art, an area I love but have a fairly big blank on overall knowledge. This helps! Is this a regular topic on Sundays? Either way I'll be on the lookout for your 'Gabi's Gab" byline! Susan