Trawling the unconscious with Magritte

Associated media

Magritte A–Z

Edited by C. Grunenberg and D Pih

René Magritte (1898–1967), Belgian Surrealist, known for his unexpected and absurd juxtapositions, is one of the most famous of modern artists. His stock images of apples, pipes, doves, cloudy skies, suburban streets and men in suits and bowler hats are both universal and automatically recognizable as ‘Magritte’. By combining, mutating and transforming standard elements and painting them in a deadpan, unobtrusive manner, Magritte created a universe of memorable poetic possibilities. His enigmatic dreamlike scenes are some of the most intellectually challenging and yet sensual images produced in the last century. His vocabulary has informed generations of artists, designers and photographers and his unique compositions have made him one of the best loved of artists. Yves Klein had a hue of blue named after him but it was really Magritte who deserved that honour, so often did he use a particular dusky blue for his nocturnal skies.

Magritte produced not only the familiar paintings but commercial art work, which he did to support himself during lean times. He also took photographs (with his Surrealist pals and their wives mugging for the camera) and made home movies. His letters and postcards demonstrate some of his ideas and eloquence in words.

The book, which accompanied an exhibition at Tate Liverpool last year, is more forthright than previous British publications about Magritte’s occasional forays into sexual terrain, including his explicit but playful drawings. The erotic impulse was a fundamental drive for Magritte but usually it was suppressed or sublimated. The eruption of visible sexuality may startle some people and undermine their perception of a neutered and aloof visual philosopher. For anyone who has studied Magritte at length, the sexual images will not come as a surprise. There is plenty of personal material about Magritte that is not widely known (finances, affairs, allegations of forgery, his life during the Second World War, his opinions on other artists) but that is the province of biography rather than matter for an exhibition. Magritte’s art has deep roots in Belgian scenery and architecture but it is not especially autobiographical so such non-artistic matters do not connect closely to his art. (Nevertheless, finances are interesting because they explain why Magritte painted so little over the early 1930s while he made a living from graphic design and also why he painted so many variations – it was in order to supply European and American markets.)

The book is divided into brief sections arranged alphabetically. Headings include: absence, Fantômas (a character from a popular film series), Sigmund Freud, Edward James (a patron of Magritte and Dalí), kitsch, language, metamorphosis, the author Edgar Allen Poe, and zwanzeur (typically Belgian humour). There are many illustrations, with all the paintings shown in colour. All the paintings shown in the exhibition are reproduced. Only some of the other material is included. Although none of the contributors is a specialist in the artist, entries are wide ranging and informative. A chronology, bibliography and notes are all handy.

There are drawbacks to the format. For example, there is no distinction made between images included in the exhibition and those used just as illustration, so as a record of the exhibition it is unsatisfactory. There is no index of entries, subjects or titles of pictures, so if one is looking for something in particular one has to use deduction or resort to flicking through pages. But that has its own pleasures, akin to trawling the subconscious; in that respect it is a good way of entering Magritte’s world. Overall, the title leans towards the general function of an introductory work rather than an exhibition catalogue, which will make it of longer-lasting appeal to most readers.  

Magritte A–Z edited by C. Grunenberg and D Pih  is published by Tate, 2011. 208 pp., paperback, over 250 colour and mono illus, £22.50. ISBN 978-1-84976-003-4