Nara+V.

Rene Magritte

Rene Magritte was a surrealist painter who lived in the 20th century. Magritte was born November 21, 1898 in the town of Lessines, Belgium and died August 15, 1967 in Brussels, Belgium. In 1912, his mother committed suicide and their family moved to Charleroi. He enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels and started his life as an artist. Rene Magritte found the Belgian surrealist group in 1924 and studied surrealism when he was in Paris. He painted many great pictures which the media were mostly oil on canvas. Surrealism is artistic style that began in the 1920’s by Andre Breton and attracted many members from the Dada movement. Surrealism is putting thought, mystery or imaginations expressed in painting. Surrealism started in Paris, Europe. Magritte's most famous painting is The Son of Man which there is a green fruit in front of a man’s face.



taken from : http://www.artexpression.com/byimage/AWIF963.htm

My favorite picture is The False Mirror: taken from : http://www.allposters.com/gallery.asp?startat=/getposter.asp&APNum=7403828&CID=CC0878FE3E2E4583A0E56489EFEE384F&PPID=1&Search=false%20mirror&f=t&FindID=0&P=1&PP=1&sortby=PD&c=c&page=1



Artist Statement

The "False Mirror" by Rene Magritte but the new title I gave is "The Hunger of Freedom". The gaze of the eyes is sad and it is longing and wishing for something, which is the blue sky in the eyes. The sky represents freedom because the sky is so clear and the clouds are so white. But there is no exact meaning for this painting, which is the reason why it is surrealist painting and the reason why I gave it a new title from my point of view. I used oil pastel for my project because the original painting’s media was oil on canvas. Both are oil. It was hard to paint this picture because there weren’t many color choices and it was hard to shade but it was also very fun. All of Rene Magritte’s works are so cool because they make you think like it is a puzzle and mystery. I really liked and chose to do this painting for my project from the moment I saw it. I am still wondering what it is about and why Magritte named it the false mirror. This painting gave me a lot of thinking that I cannot even explain it in words and that is what I want the viewer to feel about what I drew. Viewers might look at this picture and think that it is just a sky in some eye but if they look deep down into it they will find answers of their own. I enjoyed working on this piece because it was challenging and cool to do. I also believe that this piece of artwork is successful because I tried my best. I felt like I was a surrealist painting like Rene Magritte. In the conclusion I learned that copying is not only copying but understanding deep. The End.