The Problem Of Meaning

The aim: To understand that the relation between word and image and how the meaning is complex and problematic. 

Magritte standing in front of his
painting "The Pilgrim"

Renee Magritte (1898 - 1967) was a Belgian surrealist artist. His work is known for challenging the observers perceptions of reality. He frequently displays different ordinary objects in an very unusual context, changing the meaning of thing that is familiar.  The treachery of images in which he painted a pipe and painted below it "this is not a pipe" is a good example of this. The painting of a pipe is not a pipe, it is only an image of a pipe. Magritte have also used this approach in other work.

The death of his mother highly influenced his life as an artist. His mother was supposedly found with her dress covering her face. In his art he has produced many paintings with obscured faces. Other influences in his life was him setting up and starting an Advertising agency called Studio Dongo to make a living. In 1920´s he became friends with surrealists in Paris which lead to him having some success as an artist. WW1 also had an influence on his work as an artist.

Magritte used many different techniques in his surrealistic art:

1. Isolation

2. Juxtaposition

3. Substitution

4. Ersatz: Replacement of substitution

5. Metamorphosis: One object becomes another

6. Displacement: Often occurs in dreams

7. Displacement/ Defacement: Covering faces 

You can find many examples in how Margritte´s art and surrealism have been taken forward and is well used in todays advertising world. 

Focusing on one object, strawberries. 

This is not a pipe.
This is not a bra, this is a wonder bra. 

Metamorphosis: One object becomes another.
A hand becomes an animal.

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