René Magritte
Belgian surrealist who painted pipes that are not pipes.
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His work often places familiar objects in unexpected contexts, questioning reality and representation.[1] Pop art, minimalist art, and conceptual art have all been influenced by Magritte's imagery, according to the Museum of Modern Art.[1]
Quick Facts
- Birth name
- René François Ghislain Magritte
- Born
- 21 November 1898
- Birthplace
- Lessines, Belgium
- Died
- 15 August 1967
- Place of death
- Brussels, Belgium
- Field
- Painter
- Movement
- Surrealism
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
He studied at the Académie Royale in Brussels from 1916 to 1918.[2] Magritte married Georgette Berger in 1922.[3] He held his first solo exhibition in Brussels in 1927, which received poor reviews.[4] Magritte moved to Paris and joined the Surrealist group led by André Breton.[4]
He returned to Brussels in 1930 and formed an advertising agency with his brother.[5] Magritte joined the Communist Party in 1932, leaving and rejoining periodically.[6] In 1910, Magritte started taking drawing lessons.[3] Pancreatic cancer caused Magritte's death on 15 August 1967, at the age of 68.[7]
What the cited sources add
A 2025 Guardian article notes that Magritte's painting La Magie Noire was sold in 1934 when he had failed to sell any work for two years.[8] The same article states that the buyer was Alice Lorge, sister of resistance heroine Suzanne Spaak.[8] The Guardian article reports that the painting was bought to mark the birth of Lorge's first child.[8] An article from Syne describes the 2015 Punch Brothers album The Phosphorescent Blues using Magritte's painting The Lovers as cover art.[9]
A 1998 Independent article states that Magritte produced fake Picassos, Braques, and de Chiricos.[10] The Independent article also notes that Magritte was melancholic and sarcastic, with a taste for black humour.[10]
References
- Wikipedia, "René Magritte" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "René Magritte MoMA", The Museum of Modern Art (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "René Magritte" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Calvocoressi 1990, p. 9.; "The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation", The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation; Calvocoressi 1990, p. 9.; Gisèle Ollinger-Zinque and Frederik Leen (Ed.), Magritte, 1898-1967, Musées royaux des beaux-arts de Belgique, Ludion Press, 1998, p. 308; Calvocoressi 1990, p. 9. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "René Magritte" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Meuris 1991, p 216. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "René Magritte" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation", The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation; Cotter, "There's More Than Meets the Eye", The New York Times, 2013-09-26 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "René Magritte" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Meuris 1991, p. 217. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "René Magritte" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Meuris 1991, p. 217.; Willsher, "René Magritte’s ‘superstar of surrealism’ to go on sale in Paris", The Guardian, 5 October 2025 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "René Magritte" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Danchev, "Magritte: A Life", Knopf Doubleday, 2021, p. 351 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Willsher, "René Magritte’s ‘superstar of surrealism’ to go on sale in Paris", The Guardian, 5 October 2025. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com
- "The Phosphorescent Blues, René Magritte, and the End of Nostalgia", Syne. facts only, no text reused. syneonline.com
- Lambith, "Ceci n'est pas an artist", The Independent, 28 February 1998. facts only, no text reused. independent.co.uk
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article René Magritte (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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