Considered today one of the greatest Surrealist artists, René Magritte is also the most well known Belgian painter of the 20th century (Arnason and Prather, 320). He was born in 1898 and during his lifetime he did not enjoy the fame of other surrealists like Dali, as he chose to live most of his life as a quiet middle class man (Powers). He worked in the advertisement industry and apart from a brief period of three years (1927-1930) where he lived and worked in Paris with the French Surrealists, he had his home in his native Belgium (Arnason and Prather, 320). Magritte created his works at a time when art changed radically and the question “What is art?” started appearing. Some of his works are perplexing, peculiar and challenging, prompting the viewer to question their artistic merit. One of these works is The Treachery of Images (This is not a Pipe) which will be examined in this essay.
The Treachery of Images or This is not a Pipe as it is also known, was created in 1929. Its medium is oil on canvas, it measures 23 ¼ x 31 ½ inches and is exhibited in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Arnason and Prather, 337). The painting depicts a pipe in front of a neutral background accompanied by the phrase Ceci n’est pas une pipe, the French phrase for this is not a pipe. It belongs to the surrealist movement as most of Magritte’s work. At first glance, the painting looks a lot like an advertisement, a field in which Margitte had worked, and perhaps this was the artist’s intention. The phrase added at the bottom is simultaneously simple and perplexing. It’s true that this is not a real pipe but a representation of a pipe. Magritte probably aimed ‘at mystery having said about his work:
“My painting is visible images which conceal nothingthey evoke mystery and indeed when one sees one of my pictures, one asks oneself this simple question ‘what does that mean?’ It does not mean anything, because mystery means nothing either, it is unknowable” (Powers).
In this case Magritte’s intention was to play with the mystery of image, work and object, pointing “on the impossibility of reconciling” the three (“The Treachery of Images”). Like the other Surrealists, Magritte was influenced by the theories of Freud and psychoanalysis which gave rise to a whole new world of ideas opposed to the earlier rational belief system that was often blamed by the artist’s contemporaries for the catastrophic first World War (Powers and “The Treachery of Images”). But instead of dwelling in the world of dreams like the works of de Chirico, Dali or as he himself had done in other paintings, Magritte examines in The Treachery of Images the connection of appearances, language and reality.
The question however remains: Is this art? Based on the influence Magritte and his work had on later generations of artists and other intellectuals we can conclude that The Treachery of Images is not simply a work of art but also a very successful one. Magritte has been greatly influential on artists from the Pop Art and Conceptualist movements and even on post modern artists (Powers). His choice to include in his paintings both objects and words has even been imitated by artists like Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol (“The Treachery of Images”). This particular work has been the subject of a treatise by the philosopher Michel Foucault (Powers) and is considered today more than half a century after the artist’s death “an icon of modern art” (“The Treachery of Images”).
Furthermore, it is true that Magritte’s work is in some ways a traditional painting. It is created with oil on canvas, a traditional method for hundreds of years and is today exhibited in a well known and respected museum. The form of the pipe is masterly outlined; the lines are clear and the colors blend in a way that gives almost the illusion of seeing an actual pipe. The representational skills of the artist cannot therefore be questioned and he certainly manages to convey a point of view with the addition of the famous sentence.
Finally, the painting is also clearly part of the culture that created it, reflecting ideas, beliefs and knowledge of the first half of the twenty century, a century that experienced two World Wars and saw radical changes in art and many other intellectual and scientific fields. The painting is placed particularly in the artistic milieu of the 20th century as Magritte has been influenced for this particular work not only by other surrealists or Freud but also by the book Vers une Architecture written by Le Corbusier (Powers). As such, The Treachery of Images is a product of its times, a work of art representing what was new, challenging and unique during that period of its creation. In this respect, Magritte’s work is no different than that of the Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci or of the 19th century French realist, Gustave Courbet.
However, despite the reasons in favor for the categorization of The Treachery of Images as a work of art, this painting still looks problematic to me. The main argument against its artistic merit is that it looks more like an advertisement than a work of art. Until now, I have experienced art as impressive, monumental and spectacular even when abstract themes are preferred like the works by Kandinsky or Georgia O’ Keefe. In paintings in particular, I have always considered the presence and mixing of various colors as a major component of an art work which distinguished the background from the foreground or conveyed a sentiment or even a state of mind. Finally, the addition of a whole phrase underneath the object of representation is something I have expected to see in an advertisement, a poster or a leaflet but certainly not in a work of art.
This discussion prompts us to return to the initial question of this essay: What is art? The 20th century has certainly changed our perspectives and it is certain that we should have to reconsider our beliefs and prejudices concerning art.
WORKS CITED
Arnason, H.H. and Maria Prather. History of Modern Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture and Photography. London: Thames and Hudson. 1998.
Powers, S. René Magritte. In The ArtStory.org, The Art Story Foundation. Web. 10 Apr. 2013. [http://www.theartstory.org/artist-magritte-rene.htm#]
“The Treachery of Images”. In Collections, Los Angeles County Museum. Web. 10 Apr. 2013. [http://collections.lacma.org/node/239578]
