René Magritte

Lore & Background

René Magritte was born in Lessines, in the province of Hainaut in Belgium, in 1898. He was the oldest son of Léopold Magritte, a tailor and textile merchant, and Régina, a milliner. He began drawing lessons in 1910. On 24 February 1912, his mother drowned herself in the River Sambre; her body was discovered 16 days later. It was suggested that 13-year-old Magritte was present when her body was retrieved, but later research discredited this story. The image of her dress covering her face has been suggested as the source of several of his paintings from 1927–28 of people with cloth obscuring their faces, including Les Amants.

Magritte's earliest paintings, from about 1915, were Impressionistic. He studied at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels from 1916 to 1918 under Constant Montald, but found the instruction uninspiring. His work between 1918 and 1924 was influenced by Futurism and figurative Cubism. In 1922, he married Georgette Berger, whom he had met as a child. That same year, the poet Marcel Lecomte showed him a reproduction of Giorgio de Chirico's The Song of Love, which brought Magritte to tears; he described it as 'one of the most moving moments of my life: my eyes saw thought for the first time.' In 1926, he produced his first surreal painting, The Lost Jockey.

Reader's Guide

René Magritte's significance lies in his ability to transform ordinary objects into philosophical provocations. His work, such as The Treachery of Images, challenges viewers to question the relationship between an object and its representation. By placing familiar items in strange contexts, he forced audiences to reconsider reality and perception. His imagery has had a lasting influence on pop, minimalist, and conceptual art movements. Magritte's career included periods of financial struggle, forgery, and political engagement with the Communist Party, yet he maintained a distinct artistic vision. His legacy endures through major retrospective exhibitions in France and the United States, and his centenary was marked by a Belgian 500-franc banknote. Magritte remains a central figure in surrealism, whose work continues to inspire and provoke.

Did You Know?

• Magritte's mother drowned herself in 1912; the image of her dress covering her face may have inspired his paintings of cloth-obscured faces.
• In 1922, a reproduction of Giorgio de Chirico's The Song of Love moved Magritte to tears, which he called 'one of the most moving moments of my life.'
• During the postwar period, Magritte supported himself by producing fake Picassos, Braques, and de Chiricos, and later forged banknotes.
• Magritte was an agnostic in religious belief.