Artistic Work of Rene Francois Ghislain Magritte

Rene Francois Ghislain Magritte was born in Lessines in the province of Hainaut on November 21, 1898 to Leopold Magritte and Regina Magritte, he was the oldest child born. Before the age of 12 Magritte had been taking formal lessons in painting, sketching, and drawing. When Rene was a young boy his mother committed suicide by drowning herself, it was said he was present when his mother’s body was pulled from the lake. (Bio-Rene Magritte) When his mother’s body was found it was said that her dress covered her face and this would be the inspiration to his painting. Many people believe that his mother’s death was this inspiration to many of his artworks. After his mother’s death Rene enrolled in the Academie des Beaux-Arts in Brussels seeking the inspiration and a safe distance from the WWI German invasion. Here Magritte was introduced to the three movements that excited him cubism, purism, and futurism of Metzinger.

In Magritte’s early years, around 1915, many of his oil paintings were considered to be impressionistic in style. Around 1916 to 1918 Magritte attended school in Brussels at Academie Royale des Beaux Arts, then shortly after quitting because he believed it was a waste of time. During the years of 1918 through 1924 Rene’s work began to change to more futuristic and cubism. From 1915 to 1924 all his pieces had one thing in common most of them were of nude women. In 1922 Magritte married Georgette Berger whom he had met as a child. Magritte and his wife did not have any children of their own. Magritte worked as a draughtsman a wallpaper factory from 1922-1923 and advertisement designer until 1926. (Wikipedia) Working as a commercial arts Magritte was able to pay his bills. It would be decades later before he would be abl...

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... positive that he loved. Magritte started with Impressionist work to futurism and cubism and then surrealism before deciding that surrealism is what he really wanted to paint. Some of his most famous works are The Son of Man, The Mysteries of the Horizon, and Golconde. Even though it was a struggle at times Magritte never gave up on what he wanted to do and did whatever means possible so that he and his wife had an income. They even tried moving locations and starting new only to move back. On his journey he met a lot of new friends and inspired many others as a Surrealist leader. He also ran into critics who were not fans of his work but he never gave up. Magritte continued to make work that would challenge his audience and make them think outside the box. It wasn’t until after his death where his work finally reached fame and received the recognition he deserved.