René Magritte Biography

Lessines, 1888 - Brussels, 1967

Belgian painter, photographer and graphic artist Rene Magritte was a key figure in the surrealist movement.

What characterises Magritte's meticulously executed work is the way in which he removed the subjects of his work from their ordinary context and places them in new ones, creating startling juxtapositions and embuing the ordinary and the familiar with new meaning. He is perhaps best known for the painting Ceci nest pas une pipe (1929).

Magritte enrolled at the Fine Art Academy in Brussels ion 1916. He came into contact with vanguard artists Flouquet and Messens around 1918 and his work began to be influenced by French surrealism. De Chirico's Love Song greatly influenced his artistic development. Magritte relocated to Paris in 1927, where he became closely associated with Breton, Eluard and the city?s surrealist artists.

Museums and collections: - Art Institute of Chicago - Guggenheim Museum - Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota - National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. - National Gallery of Australia, Canberra - Rene Magritte Foundation - San Francisco Museum of Modern Art - Art Gallery of Ontario - Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio - Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco - Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Quebec - Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam - New Orleans Museum of Art, Louisiana - Palazzo Grassi, Venecia - San Diego Museum of Art - Tate Gallery, Londres - Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Iran - Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel

Books on Magritte

Posters