ARTISTS
Magritte, Painter-Philosopher
For the first time in Belgium, the art of its native 鈥済enius surrealist鈥� gets the royal treatment in a one-man museum similar to those established
Valery Oisteanu / The Brooklyn Rail
01 Jul, 2010
For the first time in Belgium, the art of its native 鈥済enius surrealist鈥� gets the royal treatment in a one-man museum similar to those established for van Gogh in Amsterdam, Paul Klee in Berne, Picasso and Mir贸 in Barcelona, and Dal铆 in Figueres. Finally, some 200 artworks by Ren茅 Magritte have been gathered for all time, garnering recognition on a global scale and packaged for mass consumption by art students, curious tourists and pensioners, and admiring artists like yours truly.
It is already a year since the facility opened, and more than forty years after the artist鈥檚 death. His paintings, drawings, posters, music scores, vintage photographs, films, and memorabilia have found a perfect setting, right in the center of Brussels, across from the King鈥檚 Palace, in a multimedia presentation commensurate with the 21st century. This multidisciplinary permanent installation is the biggest Magritte archive anywhere, assembled with the help of mega-investments by Belgian and French corporate patrons. Most of the exhibits come directly from the collection of the artist鈥檚 widow, Georgette Magritte, as well as from Ir猫ne Hamoir Scutenaire, the painter鈥檚 primary collector, including Magritte鈥檚 experiments with photography from 1920 on and the short surrealist films he made from 1956 on.
This monumental assembly enables the art to enter into an open dialogue with its own culture, its people, and even with contemporary art. Magritte proves to be a challenging Universalist; it might not be so easy to decipher him, yet his signature symbols鈥攋ockeys, bowling pins, musical instruments, clouds, umbrellas, bowler hats, pipes, clouds, birds, eggs, and green apples flying and morphing everywhere, including the exterior of the museum at night, aglow in giant projections鈥攁re in no need of translation.
To get there you must go through the Museum of Ancient Art/Museum of Modern Art on Regency Street #3, and then along a semi-underground passage and a series of escalators until arriving at the facility, which spans more than 2,500 square meters. (A surprise awaits at the exit, where the doors open on a piazza overlooking the King鈥檚 Palace, just around the corner from where you started!)
This newly built marvel of images, words, and sounds is universal in appeal, even in its frantic exposition; audio guides and brochures translate the explanatory texts for Magritte鈥檚 many erotically charged works. 聽One learns that the well-known 鈥淭his Is Not a Pipe鈥� is an obscene French reference to oral sex. 鈥淧leasure鈥� (1927) reveals a young woman bloodily devouring a bloody bird. In 鈥淭he Threatened Murderer鈥� (1926), six men ogle a woman鈥檚 lifeless, naked body. Often the artist鈥檚 wife appears鈥攊n a frame within the painting 鈥淭he Likeness鈥� (1954) or hanging on the painter鈥檚 back in a cinematic short.
Naked women abound everywhere: mermaids, a nude painted with faux-wood grain (鈥淒iscovery,鈥� 1927), 聽another licking herself on the shoulder, yet another 聽rising 聽with two others nudes in the painting called 鈥淭he Sea of Flames鈥� (1945) with a big toad on her back鈥攏ude after nude, each different, each challenging the senses and mind. One viewed from the back is called 鈥淓vening Gown鈥� (1954), while a bottle, painted with breasts and pubes, becomes a standing nude in 鈥淧ainted Bottle鈥� (1950). My favorite is the painting of a nightgown slung on a hanger yet flaunting juicy breasts鈥攄iaphanous clouds as a see-through dream.
The museum鈥檚 first floor begins chronologically with the works of 1898鈥�1929, Magritte鈥檚 constructivist period, and his collaborations with the 鈥�7 Arts鈥� group. 聽(Visits to Paris and encounters with Breton, 脡luard, and Aragon influenced not only his aesthetic views, but his politics as well.) Here, elongated chess pieces bearing musical notes are clumped as flowers into collages; secretive veils cover 鈥淭he Lovers鈥� (1928) and figures in several other works (his father manufactured curtains). De Chirico had a strong impact on his art, as did Max Ernst鈥檚 illustrations, and at this point surrealism became Magritte鈥檚 tool of communication until the end.
Primarily interested in the relationship between notions of the philosophical and the perceptual, visual signs and language, Magritte considered himself a thinker who used painting to explore ideas, a poet trapped in a pictorial idiom. 鈥淭o be surrealist is to banish the notion of 鈥榙茅j脿 vu,鈥欌�� he said, 鈥渁nd seek out the not yet seen.鈥�
The second floor looks at Magritte鈥檚 advertising works鈥攈e designed posters for Louis Feuillade鈥檚 Fant么mas films and produced illustrations for books of friends鈥� poetry. Along the way he had his first show in New York at Julien Levy gallery (1929) and illustrated the Comte de Lautr茅amont鈥檚 Les Chants de Maldoror, which came out in 1948. At that time he painted a series of caricatures in oil, and made gouaches inspired by the expressionistic style of James Ensor.
The third floor, 鈥淭he Enchanted Domain,鈥� highlights Magritte鈥檚 research into repetition, painting a grand summerhouse in various lights and reflections (鈥淒ominion of Lights鈥� in several versions).
Magritte was awarded the Guggenheim prize in 1956 and secured a permanent agent/patron in Alexander Iolas. From that time until he died in his apartment on 97 Rue de Mimosas at age 69 in 1967, he lived a more secure existence. Hailed as the father of Belgian surrealism, he was a rebellious spirit who participated in 鈥淓xquisite Corpses鈥� and absurdist photo set-ups.
The Magritte Museum is a labyrinth of writing, painting, short films and photos, room after room filled with enchanted works. Descending into the floors below, another persona appears鈥擬agritte as the sculptor of objects that are mysterious and ironic, massive and delicate, where majestic birds turn into plants, standing silently, facing eternity.
My own tour done, walking out into the daylight, I was struck by how concisely the visionary ideas in Magritte鈥檚 paintings can be summarized in a line (that I imperfectly recall) by Paul Colinet, a poet and friend of Magritte: 鈥淭he bird is in the suitcase, the suitcase is in the egg, the egg is in the rock, the rock is in the little finger.鈥�
It is already a year since the facility opened, and more than forty years after the artist鈥檚 death. His paintings, drawings, posters, music scores, vintage photographs, films, and memorabilia have found a perfect setting, right in the center of Brussels, across from the King鈥檚 Palace, in a multimedia presentation commensurate with the 21st century. This multidisciplinary permanent installation is the biggest Magritte archive anywhere, assembled with the help of mega-investments by Belgian and French corporate patrons. Most of the exhibits come directly from the collection of the artist鈥檚 widow, Georgette Magritte, as well as from Ir猫ne Hamoir Scutenaire, the painter鈥檚 primary collector, including Magritte鈥檚 experiments with photography from 1920 on and the short surrealist films he made from 1956 on.
This monumental assembly enables the art to enter into an open dialogue with its own culture, its people, and even with contemporary art. Magritte proves to be a challenging Universalist; it might not be so easy to decipher him, yet his signature symbols鈥攋ockeys, bowling pins, musical instruments, clouds, umbrellas, bowler hats, pipes, clouds, birds, eggs, and green apples flying and morphing everywhere, including the exterior of the museum at night, aglow in giant projections鈥攁re in no need of translation.
To get there you must go through the Museum of Ancient Art/Museum of Modern Art on Regency Street #3, and then along a semi-underground passage and a series of escalators until arriving at the facility, which spans more than 2,500 square meters. (A surprise awaits at the exit, where the doors open on a piazza overlooking the King鈥檚 Palace, just around the corner from where you started!)
This newly built marvel of images, words, and sounds is universal in appeal, even in its frantic exposition; audio guides and brochures translate the explanatory texts for Magritte鈥檚 many erotically charged works. 聽One learns that the well-known 鈥淭his Is Not a Pipe鈥� is an obscene French reference to oral sex. 鈥淧leasure鈥� (1927) reveals a young woman bloodily devouring a bloody bird. In 鈥淭he Threatened Murderer鈥� (1926), six men ogle a woman鈥檚 lifeless, naked body. Often the artist鈥檚 wife appears鈥攊n a frame within the painting 鈥淭he Likeness鈥� (1954) or hanging on the painter鈥檚 back in a cinematic short.
Naked women abound everywhere: mermaids, a nude painted with faux-wood grain (鈥淒iscovery,鈥� 1927), 聽another licking herself on the shoulder, yet another 聽rising 聽with two others nudes in the painting called 鈥淭he Sea of Flames鈥� (1945) with a big toad on her back鈥攏ude after nude, each different, each challenging the senses and mind. One viewed from the back is called 鈥淓vening Gown鈥� (1954), while a bottle, painted with breasts and pubes, becomes a standing nude in 鈥淧ainted Bottle鈥� (1950). My favorite is the painting of a nightgown slung on a hanger yet flaunting juicy breasts鈥攄iaphanous clouds as a see-through dream.
The museum鈥檚 first floor begins chronologically with the works of 1898鈥�1929, Magritte鈥檚 constructivist period, and his collaborations with the 鈥�7 Arts鈥� group. 聽(Visits to Paris and encounters with Breton, 脡luard, and Aragon influenced not only his aesthetic views, but his politics as well.) Here, elongated chess pieces bearing musical notes are clumped as flowers into collages; secretive veils cover 鈥淭he Lovers鈥� (1928) and figures in several other works (his father manufactured curtains). De Chirico had a strong impact on his art, as did Max Ernst鈥檚 illustrations, and at this point surrealism became Magritte鈥檚 tool of communication until the end.
Primarily interested in the relationship between notions of the philosophical and the perceptual, visual signs and language, Magritte considered himself a thinker who used painting to explore ideas, a poet trapped in a pictorial idiom. 鈥淭o be surrealist is to banish the notion of 鈥榙茅j脿 vu,鈥欌�� he said, 鈥渁nd seek out the not yet seen.鈥�
The second floor looks at Magritte鈥檚 advertising works鈥攈e designed posters for Louis Feuillade鈥檚 Fant么mas films and produced illustrations for books of friends鈥� poetry. Along the way he had his first show in New York at Julien Levy gallery (1929) and illustrated the Comte de Lautr茅amont鈥檚 Les Chants de Maldoror, which came out in 1948. At that time he painted a series of caricatures in oil, and made gouaches inspired by the expressionistic style of James Ensor.
The third floor, 鈥淭he Enchanted Domain,鈥� highlights Magritte鈥檚 research into repetition, painting a grand summerhouse in various lights and reflections (鈥淒ominion of Lights鈥� in several versions).
Magritte was awarded the Guggenheim prize in 1956 and secured a permanent agent/patron in Alexander Iolas. From that time until he died in his apartment on 97 Rue de Mimosas at age 69 in 1967, he lived a more secure existence. Hailed as the father of Belgian surrealism, he was a rebellious spirit who participated in 鈥淓xquisite Corpses鈥� and absurdist photo set-ups.
The Magritte Museum is a labyrinth of writing, painting, short films and photos, room after room filled with enchanted works. Descending into the floors below, another persona appears鈥擬agritte as the sculptor of objects that are mysterious and ironic, massive and delicate, where majestic birds turn into plants, standing silently, facing eternity.
My own tour done, walking out into the daylight, I was struck by how concisely the visionary ideas in Magritte鈥檚 paintings can be summarized in a line (that I imperfectly recall) by Paul Colinet, a poet and friend of Magritte: 鈥淭he bird is in the suitcase, the suitcase is in the egg, the egg is in the rock, the rock is in the little finger.鈥�
