Rene Magritte: The Life of an Artist - Art History School

[Music] in the 1920s a belgian artist began producing thought-provoking images that challenge people's preconceived perceptions of reality his public image an average man in suit and bowler hat living in the suburban anonymity of brussels was designed to deflect enquiries into his personal life he shunned all attempts to decode the meaning of his work the idea doesn't matter he said only the image counts the inexplicable and mysterious image welcome to the world of renee magritte [Music] [Applause] rene francois gellain magritte was born in lassens in belgium in the province of haynolt on the 21st of november 1898. he was the son of leopold magritte to taylor and his wife adelaine who was a millionaire he had two younger brothers raymond and paul besides being a tailor his father also ran a textile manufacturing business which was intermittently successful but his father was aggressive an irreverent philanderer and a social climber whose behaviour often resulted in periods of financial difficulty that and the fact that he and his three unruly sons were seen collectively as a bad lot by locals meant that between 1902 and 1910 the magritte family moved several times first to chatelet and finally to charleroi at the age of 12 in 1910 rene magritte began drawing lessons designed for children but two years later in 1912 tragedy struck when magritte's 41 year old mother committed suicide by drowning herself in the river sombra this was not the first time she had tried to end her own life she had attempted it many times often resulting in her husband leopold locking her in a bedroom for long periods it is rumored that magritte was present when her body with her face covered completely by a white dress was recovered from the river while this is probably a myth propagated by his governess the image of the head covered in cloth often occurs in his paintings following the death of his mother magritte and his two brothers were brought up by a governess and their grandmother magritte attended grammar school and it was here that in 1913 he first met georgette berger who would later become his wife in 1916 magritte enrolled at the academy dimbo's art in brussels and stayed for two years he attended courses by franz van damme who introduced him to impressionist realism and constant montol the symbolist the beginning of 1918 he met various members of the contemporary belgium avant-garde including the boy pierre bourgeois and the abstract painter pierre floquet with whom he shared a studio for a short period it was around this time you became interested in the dynamism of italian futurism in 1919 mcgreek got to know theo vandorsberg the leader of the de steel group who had come to brussels to give a lecture on the dutch group's purest theories later that year he got engaged to his childhood sweetheart georgette berger who at the time was working with her sister in an artist's cooperative in brussels at the beginning of 1921 magritte started his military service in beverly belgium finishes in his tour of duty as a map maker in 1922. during this time he hardly painted at all shortly after leaving the military he married georgette berger later in 1922 magritte took a job as a designer at the peta's lacroix wallpaper factory in a brussels suburb he worked with the artist and designer victor severance with whom he co-authored the pamphlet pure art a defense of the aesthetic magritte's paintings at this time were heavily influenced by analytic cubism as can be seen in this painting the model he left the wallpaper factory in 1923 to concentrate on designing advertising posters and exhibition stands he also designed the cover for a volume of poetry by pierre bourgeois whose portrait he painted in 1920 in 1925 magritte published a periodical inspired by darderism but only one issue was produced but it was around this time he first saw the work of georgiou de cherico and in particular the painting the song of love not only was he inspired by this painting but his work also began to display a similar desolate and mysterious mood that that shiriko created in his own work during 1926 his transformation into a figurative artist continued he gave up his advertising work and produced his first successful surrealist painting the lost jockey the following year he held his first one-man show at the gallery la centois in brussels exhibited in this show was the painting that launched his career as a surrealist painter the menaced assassin this painting was influenced by pre-world war one popular crime film series fantomas of which magritte was an avid fan the placement of the two figures that flanked the door came from a scene from the murderous corpse a film from the series first released in 1913. it was painted in this deadpan style that would make him famous each figure appears to be in a state of suspended animation its cinematic staging suggests a menacing narrative but the specifics remain elusive this conflict between visual details and a coherent meaning make it difficult to create a logical storyline this conflict magritte would exploit in many of his paintings while some elements of the one-man show were generally well received magritte was disheartened by the overall response so later in 1927 he and georgette left brussels and moved to a village near paris where they stayed for three years in paris magritte joined the french surrealist group led by andre breton and made friends with paul elliard hans harp jean miro and salvador dali magritte's father died in 1928 the year the bose art museum in grenoble became the first public institution to buy a magritte painting left behind by the shadow which she had painted in 1926 together with paul elyard and his wife gala he visited salvador dali in cada cate in 1929 not long afterwards gala elijah would become darley's wife magritte enjoyed challenging artistic conventions of representation and with this painting the false mirror of 1929 magritte posed a puzzle about observation the enormous eye fills the canvas the eye looks at the viewer while the viewer looks both at and through the eye as though a window becoming both observer and observed the treachery of images painted the same years shows a pipe it could be an advertisement but below the pipe magritte has painted the words this is not a pipe this seems a contradiction but it's actually true the image is a pipe but this is a painting it's not a pipe image and language tell different stories urging the viewer to ask which if either is more real than the other magritte was becoming increasingly disillusioned though with the darker more extreme subjects of the parisian surrealists by 1930 he felt increasingly ignored by the prison surrealists and after his wife georgette was publicly criticized for wearing a crucifix they returned to the more bourgeoisie and familiar surroundings of belgium surrealism he now had no source of income so he resumed his advertising work setting up the advertising agency dongo with his brother it was a relatively successful even though the dining room in his flat had to double up as his studio it was after the break with the parisian surrealist group that magritte began to find his unique voice he began to find solutions to problems posed by different types of objects a method that enabled him to challenge and reconfigure the most commonplace elements of everyday life he claimed this philosophical method came to him after waking from a dream in 1932. in his semi-conscious state he looked at the bird cage that was in his room and saw not the bird that inhabited the cage but an egg this splendid misapprehension as he called it allowed him to grasp as he said and knew an astonishing poetic secret in 1932 he joined the communist party but left shortly afterwards after a difference of opinion later in 1934 magritte's drawing the rape which appeared on the cover of andre breton's pamphlet what is surrealism magritte rejoined the belgian communist party in 1936 and designed covers for musical scores shortly afterwards magritte met a young performance artist sheila legg with whom he began an affair as a distraction he arranged for his friend paul collinet to entertain and distract his wife but this led to a an affair between georgette and paul and it was not until 1940 that magritte and his wife were reconciled during 1937 magritte visited the banker edward james in london and painted three large portraits of him he was also invited to give a lecture at the london gallery in november 1937 during an exhibition of works by young belgian artists just as magritte was achieving his success and recognition the second world war broke out in 1940 magritte left belgium following the german invasion and moved to carcassonne in france where he painted portraits on commission however he returned to brussels later in the year and his decision to remain in belgium during the nazi occupation caused a split between him and andre breton the suffering and violence caused by the war led magritte to abandon the darker elements of surrealism he wrote the sense of chaos and panic which surrealism hoped to foster so that everything might be called into question was achieved much more successfully by those idiots the nazis against widespread pessimism i now propose a search for joy and pleasure hence his work became inspired by the palette and the voluptuous nudes of pierre orcosterenois this was a heroic attempt to explore the more beautiful side of life works from this period such as the return of the flame and the clearing demonstrate this move with their brighter palettes and more impressionist technique in 1943 he exhibited the first pictures of his renoir period but using a bright and impressionist palette as a subversive response to the horrors of war did little to improve his finances money was tight to supplement his income he began to forge currency he also started to forge old masters and the modern artists max ernst paul clee georges brack and picasso much of his efforts were fairly obvious fakes but after magritte's death the artist marcel marienne wrote an article exposing magritte's forgeries and his own complicity in the enterprise georgette was outraged and sued marien but lost the case in 1945 magritte rejoined the belgian communist party is painting the red model appeared on the cover of the new edition of breton's surrealism and the painter in 1946 the belgian surrealists including magritte published the first manifesto of surrealism in full sunlight which proposed an optimistic form of surrealism andre breton reacted negatively to their ideas so magritte and his friends began to distance themselves from the parisian surrealists indulgence with the belgian communist party finally ended rene magritte described his paintings as visual images which conceal nothing they evoke mystery and indeed when one sees one of my pictures one asks oneself this simple question what does that mean it doesn't mean anything because mystery means nothing in 1951 magritte was commissioned to paint murals for the knock casino in noc a small town on the belgian coast the casino was a late 1920s building that was badly damaged during the war but had been renovated mcgreek created a giant 360 degree mural comprising eight panels called the enchanted domain it was a celebration of some of his best known images but to create the enormous work magritte used colour transparencies to project the images onto the walls and interior designers actually did the painting during the 1950s magritte bought a lot of expensive photographic equipment and began making a series of short films some had scripts which he wrote with friends and were often based on his paintings that year magritte was awarded the guggenheim prize for belgian artists in 1957 magritte created the mural the ignorant fairy for the palais de bozart in charleroi it was created using the same methods and techniques as the mural of 1953 and was over 16 meters wide greater success now allowed him to move to 97 rudiments a much bigger house where he remained until his death even though he now had the space he still retained the habit of painting in the dining room dressed in his suit and bow tie around 1963 magritte was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer but he continued to paint he still travelled visiting italy with georgette in april 1965 and later that year despite deteriorating health number great's visited the usa for the first time to see magritte's retrospective exhibition at the museum of modern art in new york after a short stay in hospital magritte died in his own bed of pancreatic cancer on the 15th of august 1967 at his house in brussels he was 69 years old earlier that year he had visited italy to complete and sign the wax models for eight sculptures which were to be made at the verona forge works unfortunately he never lived to see the final bronzes magritte was working on this unfinished painting when he died the uncompleted painting remained on its easel in the dining room until the death of georgette magritte in 1986. the magritte museum which opened in brussels in 2009 holds over 200 of magritte's paintings drawings and sculptures and is well worth a visit thank you for watching i hope you've enjoyed the video if you would like to see more of my videos why not subscribe it's free and clicking the little black bell will tell you when my next video is released if you want to support the making of my videos then please check out my patreon channel where you can find lots of interesting rewards in return for your patronage thanks again i'll see you in the next video goodbye

Channel: Art History School

Views: 61,680

Keywords: art history school, rené magritte, art history, history of art, Magritte, Rene Magritte, artist, Georgette Berger, The Treachery of Images, bowler hat, famous artists, Belgium Surrealist, Paul Priestley, Surrealism, Red Shoes, Brussels, Belgium, Modern art, surrealist artists, rene magritte biography, rene magritte paintings explained, surrealism painting, surrealism art, Belgium artist, magritte the treachery of images, famous artist

Id: sNFh9bL5yzg

Length: 18min 8sec (1088 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 28 2022