Vol. 32, No.3 ISSN 1060-832X .Published in cooperation with The National Gallery of Art. Formerly ART & MAN

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COVER: Salvador Dali (1904-1989).Sleep,1937. Oil on canvas,20 1/8 x 30 1/4 in.Photo:Ex-Edward James Foundation , Su sex, UK/Bridg eman Art Library I Artists Rights Society (ARS), N.Y., N.Y.

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"" "Just as Iam astonished that the bank clerk never eats a check, so too am I astonished that no painter before mehas ever thought of painting a soft watch."-Salvador Dali

nts swarm over melting watches. Drawers pop out/ of human bodies. Crutches prop up eyelids

and chins. What do these bizarre things mean ? The

\ answers are as fascinating as the colorful artistwith the huge mustache who painted them: Salvador Dali.

Dali is one of the best known and most successful artists of the 20th century. His work helped tum Sun-ea/ism into an important artistic and literary movement. Always con troversial, Dali was attacked by his critics as a self-promoter

GALLERY OFART obsessed with money and fame. To his admirers, Dali's art,

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The Persistence of Memory, 1931. Oil on canvas, q 1/2 x 13in.The Museum of Modern Art, N.Y.,N.Y.Given anonymously. Digital Image CThe Museum of ModernArVLicensed by SCALA/ArtResource, NY /Art ists RightsSociety (AR S), N.Y., N .Y.

with its symbols and optical illusions, was innovative and brilliant. Dali's art struck a nerve. It made people cringe; it made them laugh. But it also made them think.

Salvador Dali was born in 1904 to well-to-do parents in

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Text by Denise Willi

ISIT E J OY -T H E JOY O F B EI N G DA LL" -SALVA DO R DA LI

a small town in northern Spain. He was drawn to art early on. In high school, Dali had his first exhibition, which was met with local acclaim. The praise didn't surprise the artist, who predicted in his diary:"I'll be a great genius."

Dali's first recognition came with his 1928 painting, Basket of Bread (below right). Itshows the highly realistic style Dali would soon use to make his Surrealist paintings. The work 's intensity stems from the placement of the bas ket against a deep, black background. Careful modeling (gradation of light and dark) makes the bread seem to glow.Cast shadows, highlights, and perspective (a way to repre sent three-dimensions on a flat surface) create a sense of

Dali's true geniuswas not recognized until 1931 when he painted one of the world's best- known Surrealist works,The Persistence of Memor)' (left). Struggling to understand his own dreams and inner conflicts, Dali discovered the ideas of analyst Sigmund Freud. Freud felt people were ruled by their uncon scious minds and dreams were a linkto this unconscious. In this work, hard

...Salvador Dali's face, withits signature moustache, is recognizable the world over.

Photo, Robert Kradin/AP Wide World Photos

deep space. The painting is so detailed and luminous it seems more real than a photo.

and soft forms are reversed. The limp metal watches suggest the unreliability of the conscious world. One watch droops over the sleeping, amoebalike head of the painter himself. Here, Dali stresses that our unconscious mind exerts more power over us than anything else.

When this painting was first shown, it was hailed as a supreme example of Surrealism, a movement born in Europe after World War I (1914-1918). Art ists who had lived through the horrors of war wanted to create a new way of looking at the world-one that rejected reason, tradition,and convention. Surrealists (the word means a higher degreeof reality} such as Dali turned inward, seeking to create their own fantastic, introspective, dream-laden worlds.

"' "My aim is to retrieve the lost techniques of the painters of the past." -Salvador Dali

The Basket of Bread,1926.Oil on panel, 12 1/2 x 12 1/2 in . Salvador Dali Museum, St. Petersburg, FL C 2002 Salvador Dali Museum, Inc ./ Artists Rights Society (AR S), N.Y., N.Y.

.a. "Salvador Dali and Gala are the two beings capable of moderating and exalting my divine madness."-Salvador DaliThe Angelus of Gala,l933. Oil on canvas, The Museum of Modern Art, New York.Photograph © Archivo Jconografico, S.AJCorbis I Artist.s R ights Society (ARS>, N.Y., N. Y.

ali cl.aimed to have been haunted throughout his life by the fact that he grew up in the shadow of a brother (also named Salvador) who died before Dali was born. Dali's strict father eventually ban

ished his willful and unconventional son from the family home. In 192 1, when he was 17, Dali's beloved mother died of cancer. After that, the artist began making images that reflected his tormented soul.

Dali struggled for a while. He then met a woman who would become the most important person in his life-a Russian who called herself Gala. She would become Dali's wife, model, and business agent, carefully managing his career. In the portra it above, Gala sits on a wheelbarrow like the figures in the painting behind her. She stares fiercely at her "double" in front of her.

In 1929 Dali joined a group of Surrealist artists in Paris. From 1929 to 1937, the artist produced what many believe to be his most important Surrealist works. He used a

Spanish Civil War. The focal point of the painting is a faceless, skeletal female figure. Her body has been transformed into half-open drawers, symbols of memory and the unconscious mind.

.a."The human body is full of secret drawers that can only be opened by psycho analysis." -Salvador DaliThe Burn;ng Giraffe, 193&37 . Oil on wood, 133/4 x IO 5/8 in. Offentliche Kunstsammlung Basel, Marlin Buhler IArtists R ights Society lAR Sl, N .Y., N.Y.

process he called the "paranoiac-critical method" to present his themes and obsessions. Dali described his blend ofprecise realism and dreamlike fantasy as "hand -painted dream photographs." Symbols from Dali's nightmareworld---crutches, staircases, grasshoppers, ants, and melting watches-became recurring images in his paintings.

A good example of Dali's work during this period can be found in his 1936 The Burning Giraffe (above right), completed at the beginning of the violent and bloody

4 SCHOLASTIC ART

Dali was fond of painting burning giraffes, their manesturned into fiery red flames to suggest the ravages of war. The scale of the cropped foreground figure and the low horizon line lead the v iewer's eye into the work's deep, sur-real space.The painting's bleak, nearly monochro matic (one color-blue) color scheme, give it an even more nightmarish quality.

In Autumn Cannibalism , (right) the figures suggestedby the two central shapes are undergoing a complete meta,

"T H E O NE T HING T H E WO R LD WILL N EV ER HAV E E NO UG HO F IS T H E O UT RAG EO US." -SA LVA DO R DA LI

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morphoses (forms gradually change into something else).Just about every natural law has been reversed in thispainting---objects float, elongate, dissolve, change, decay. The figures scoop and carve at each other with spoons and knives, a terrifying symbolic representation of a country at war with itself. As Dali's fame grew, so did wamings of a

conflict that would be even larger. Fearing World War II (1939- 1945) , in 1940 Daliwent to America and began to search for new ways to express his obsessions.

.a. "These ...creatures taking turns devouring each other in the autumnexpress the pathos of war."-Salvador DaliAutumn Cannibalism, }q36·37. Oil on canvas,25 1/2 x 25 3/4 in. Tate Gallery,London IArtists Rights Society (ARS >, N.Y.,N.Y.

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"T H E O N LY DIFF E R ENC E BETW E E N MY S ELF A N D A MA D MA N,IS T HAT IA M NOT MA D !" -SA LVA DO R DA LI

s he grew as a painter, Dali began using new tech niques. His goal, as always, was to jar the viewerwith the unexpected. You've seen one method metamorphosis (page 5), which involves grad

ual change. Another method was the double image, in which one image is suddenly perceived in a different way.

What do you see when you look at the work below?Can you make out a row of people sitting in front of arounded building? This painting was inspired by a photo graph. When Dali first viewed it, he saw a rural scene

inhabited by African villagers. But when the artist looked at the photo again, he saw something very differ ent. Hard forms became soft, spaces became shapes, dark areas became light. So Dali painted the image, calling it Paranoic Face. In this work, the stone hut forms a face. The people and cast shadows become eyes, nose, and mouth. The trees turn into hair. This optical illusion expresses Dali's belief that what a person sees dependsentirely on his or her unconscious mind.

In Old Age , Adolescence, Infancy, (right) , Dali again

p t

uses double images to symbolize life's three main stages. In this painting, he uses scenes and landscapes from his child hood-something he often did in his paintings-to create his illusions. A ruined wall contains and frames three heads. Glimpses of the town where Dali grew up are seen

Held up only by tiny crutches, the giant head appears to float-or levitate-above the ground. To remind viewersthat reality lies behind our

.._ In works like this one, double-images tell the viewer that something strange and disorient ing is going on.Old Age, Adolescence, Infancy ,I940.

through these negative spaces. The three faces are formed fragile dream State, the artist Oil on canvas, Salvador Dali Museum,St. Petersburg, FLO 2002 Salvador

by the positive shapes seen through the holes. The nose 'JUX tapOSed ( ut toge 1

er

Dali Museum, Inc. 0 2002 Salvador Dali Museum, Inc./ Artists Rights

and mouth of the central head is also the figure of Dali's nurse, sitting on the ground with her back to us. The houses in the hills behind form the head's two eyes.

Dali's art was largely devoted to making dreams concrete. In Sleep (pages 8-9), Dali created an image that

represents the do(ninance of

in unusual combinations) a Society <ARS> N.v.,N.v.

dog (supported by a crutch), a person, a small boat, anda large structure in the desert behind. About this painting Dali wrote, "In order to sleep, we need a whole system of psyc ically balanced crutches."

As the art world's expert on the unconscious, Dali-. A master of illusion,Dali said:"My portraits do not look like the subject, rather the person grows to look like his portrait."

the sleeping world over the real one. A distorted, sleep ing head-huge in scale-is propped up by crutches, a

was much in demand. He worked in advertising and for Hollywood, designed clothing, and jewelry. Despite his showmanship, his gift for revealing the "true" nature of the human condition was recognized and admired by

Paranoic Face, 1934.Tho Ella Gallup favorite Dali symbol stand-Sumner and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection I 1ng tor emOtt'Ot1al SUppport.

many people. When he died in 1989, at age 84, the

Artists Rights Society (ARS> N.Y., N.Y.

.

Ii

world mourned the loss of a great personality and painter.

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A R T S P O T L IG H T

\\ S UR R EA LIS M IS A BO UT T H E UNCO NSCIO US. MY UNCO NSCIO US IS PO P,S O MY A RT WO U LD BE POP-S UR R EA LIS M." - I<E NNY SC HA R F

"I HAVE ALWAYS f ELT THE NEED FOR SELF-ANALYSIS IN MY WORK."-NAHU M ZENIL

S UR R EA L S ELF- PO RT RAITSahum Zeni I, regarded as one of Mexico's most important contem porary artists, uses a highly realistic technique to create what Salvador Dali called "hand-painted dream photographs." With rare

exceptions, Zeni! paints one single subject: himself. Like Dali, the artist uses his obsessions to create fantasy dramas in which he himself is the star. His face and body appear again and again in his work, distorted and exag, gerated in many ways. The artist shows himself being eaten by worms, used as a target for darts, or flying high over New York City skyscrapers.

Zeni l's technique and surrealist imagery often recall paintings by early zoth century Mexican Surrealist artist Frida Kahlo. For both artists, the self-portrait is a way of releasing pain, both psychic andphysical. In fact, Kahlo appears in many of Zeni l's works such as Frida in M)1 Heart (left). Kahlo's face, huge in scale, is superim... Nahum Zenilb. 1947. Frida inMy Heart, 1991.Oil on wood.20 1/2 x 15 3/4in. Galeria deArte Mexicano,

posed on Zenil's body. The arteries and veins leading from the face/heart undergo a metamorphos es, changing intovines that link both artists with each other and with the

Mexico City natural world .

"WH AT WILL BE THE ROLE OF WOME N IN THIS N EW SOCIETY?"- HAN NAH HOCH

A N UN LIKE LY PA IRarly zoth century German artist Hannah Hoch created Surrealist works before the term was even invented. Among the first artiststo clip images from magazines and rearrange the pieces, Hoch was one

of the "inventors" of photomontage. In the 1920s, during the day, she worked designing embroidery patterns for women's magazines. But in her free time at night, the artist created politically challenging collages using images taken from these same women's publications.

In Tamar (right) Hoch presents a seated woman looking down at a seal. The artist has tom the center out of a reprod uction of a metal _ plate so it looks as if the two figures have burst through a steel wall. When you lookclosely at the woman, you'll notice that superimposed on her head is the face of a white doll. Her crossed arms have been replaced by those of a muscular man. Below this figure is the unlikely juxt aposition of a seal. Both the seal and the woman wear makeup and their eyes resemble one another. But theII> Hannah Hoch woman looks down and away, while the seal stares directly

9J . ;:,mar, out at the viewer. In this surrea l work, perhaps the artist issociety <AR S> NY,NY. questioning w at is natura an rationa an w 1at is not.

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"CARTOO NS HAVE BEEN A BIG INFLUENCE ON ME; THEY WERE SOME OF MY FIRST VISUAL EXPERIENCES ." -KEN NY SCHARF

PO P S UR R EA LIS Mpurple creature with a goofy cartoonlike grin appears in the comer of a bizarre, red lunar land scape. Strange organic and geometric shapes

levitate, or float, against a bright yellow-green sky. What do you make of the unusual image seen above?

Disappointed in the world as he sees it, contemporary

I American artist Kenny Scharf invents his own fantasy,j universe. He refers to his art as Pop-Surrealism.

Influencedby the cartoons he watched growing up in the 1960s, Scharf creates fantastic animated spacescapes such as the one above. On this alien planet, every natural law that we

dimensional space on a flat surface), then changes the scale of the constructions in the background. This makesthem impossibly enormous. Gravity has also been discarded. Although modeled shapes and the addition of highlights and shadows have made the scene seem convincinglythree-dimensional, the textures, surfaces, and colors areall wrong. The two-headed being on the left should at least be warni and soft, but it appears cold, hard, shiny, and metallic. And the Day-G ia colors in this work are com pletely unnatural. Although both of the creatures' facesare smiling and the colors are cartoonlike, do you think Scharf's v ision of outer space is a happy, hopeful one?

associate with earth has been broken. The artist sets up a realistic perspective (a system for representing three- .A. K,nny Scharf b. 1q5s. Sajippe Kraka Joujesh 1qs4. Oilon canvas and wood frame.

127 1/4 x 151 1/2 in.Tony ShafraziGallery, N.Y.,N.Y.

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ISPOTL GHT R E N E MAG R ITTE

Rene Magritte:Man of Many HatsThis artist dreamed up impossible

In 1916, Magritte enrolled at an advanced art school, where he learned to paint in many different styles. The young artist found his passion in the oddity of Surrealism.Surrealists developed their ideas from the strange things that happen in dreams. They juxtapose unrelatedobjects, placing them side by side. These images seem both real and unreal-sur-rea/.

ideas and painted them into reality Inventing MysteriesMagritte couldn't support himself

and his wife just by painting, so he alsoworked as a graphic designer. Like other businessmen of the time, he dressed in a suit and hat. called a bowler hat. Seeing so many other men dressed like him on the street inspired Magritte. The man wearing a bowler hat became a motif, or subject , that appears often in the artist's work. n fact, Magritte created at least 21 different paintings featuring the businessman!

Magritte's first painting of the man in the bowler hat was a self-portrait. Many historians believe that the artist referred to himself whenever he used this motif, but Magritte often left this unclear. n the 196q work The Son of Man, below, a bright

Rene Magr i tte i n 1 93 8 , shown next to one of his paintings.

Ren• Magritte photographed with hispamting le8arlxue Batbonanl. 1938.Photo: Banqued' mages. ADAGP/Alt Resource, NY. 02013 C. Her1cov1ci, London/Artists Rights Society (AAS).New York.

nvision a worldwhere apples defy gravity,a human eye is a window to the sky, and trains travel through time. mpossible as these scenes are in the realwor ld, Rene Magritte (reh-NAY

ma-GREET), brought them to life on canvas.

An Early nterestinArtMagritte, shown above next to one of

his paintings, was born in Belgium in 1898. Rene took his first art lesson at age 12. He painted so well that his family believed

I he was a prodigy. When Rene was just

13,his father even entered one of the boy'spaintings in an international art show.

How does Magritte create a mystery about the identity of the man in this painting?

Rene Magntte.The Son of Man(Le F"ds da fHommeJ.196q.011 on canvas. '45.67x35m. Puvate collection. Image:Banque d'Images,AOAGP/Art Resource, NY. G2013 C. He1scovici, ondon/Altists Rights Society (ARS),flew Vork.

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T. Why is it importantthat Magritte variedthe image of the m a n in the bowler hat?t , f ti tt Oil on canvas. 80.7x100.6cm. Menil

t Rene Magritte, Golconda, )953.Collection, Houston.. Image: Banque

t t t t t t t d'Jmages, ADAGP/Art Resource. NV. G2013 C. Herscovici. london!Artists Rights Society (ARSJ, New York.t t it' I I' I't

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green apple hovers unnaturally just in

front of the figure's face. It hides the man's facial features. The figure could be anyone, including the artist himself. n this surreal composition, Magritte invites viewers to

wonder what the apple is hiding and why.

An dea DevelopsIn his 1853 work Golconda (gal-KON-duh), above, Magritte uses repetition,painting the man in the bowler hat dozens of times. Arranged in layers of varied scale,the smaller men are in the background and the larger men are in the foreground,which makes them seem closer to the viewer.

Magritte painted in a realistic style, including many specific details like the architecture of the building, the shadows on the wall, even the buttons on the men's coats. The men seem identical, but closer inspection reveals variation among them. Some have their hands in their pockets.

Others carry briefcases. Without variation, the repeated figure might make the painting boring. But subtle differences encourage viewers to look more closely.

The bowler hat motif appears again in Magritte's 1866 work Oecalcomania (DEE-CAL-co-man-ia), below. The image

is bisected,with

the man on the

left and a curtain

on the right. By

shaping the

negative space like a figure, Magritte adds a veil of mystery to a simple painting.

What is the role of negative space in thepa i nting b e low?

Rene Magritte.Decolcomonio, 1966. Oil on canvas, 8lxl00cm. Private collection. Image: Herscovici/Art Resource, NY. D2013 C. Herscovici, London/Artists Rights Society (ARSJ, New York.

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ISPOTLIGHT R EN E M AG RITTE

Driven by DreamsWhen Magritte puts ordinary objects into unfamiliar situations, they become extraordinary

hen you dream, your subconscious mind puts different parts of your life side-by-side. For example, your science teacher might dance the

tango with your aunt on the school soccer field.Magritte and other Surrealist artists played with this concept. They found that juxtaposing ordinary but unrelated objects could be as disorienting and powerful as waking up from a strange dream.

Inspirationin ParisMagritte knew that he needed to move

to Paris, the heart of the Surrealistmovement, to get noticed. He arrived in

I 1827 and soon met important Surrealists

like Max Ernst. Salvador Dali, and Joan Miro. These artists were interested in the way the mind works, so they read up on the latest theories of psychology. They wereespecially interested in dreams.

I Magritte and Miro became good friends,

meeting for lunch every Thursday. During these lively meals, the artists discussed the meaning and purpose of art. Since we already know what the world looks like,

why represent it literally on the canvas? If our

I dreaming minds can create strange worlds,perhaps artists should try to do the same in waking life.

Why do you think Magritte chose to replace the subject's ribcage with a birdcage inthis portrait?

Rene Magritte,1he Thet"opist. 1937. 011 on cenves. 36 l/'lx25 9116,n. PrivateCollection.Image: Banque d'Images, AOAGP/Att Resource, New York.C2013 C. Herscovicl, london/Art1sts Rights Society (ARS), New York.

6 SCHOLASTIC ART ·DECEMBER 2013 / JANUARY 2011.t

How does

Magritte challenge the way we think about a fireplace and a train?

Rene Magritte, Tuna r,onsrixed,1938.011 on canvas, 577/8x38 7/81n. Alt nst tute of Chicago, Joseph Winterbotham Collection.1970.Q26. Image; lhe Bridgeman A.rt Library. 02013 C. Herscovici, ondon/Artista Rights Sooety (ARS), Hew York.

Is this a giant rose or a tiny room? Why do you think so?

Ren! Magritte, The Tombof the Wrestfe,s.1960. Oilon canvas. B9x.116cm. Private collection. Ne,.vVork. Image: Herscovici/Art Resource. NY.G2013 C. Herscovici,London/Artists Rights Society (AAS), New York.

''My pictures showed objects locatedin places where we never come across them.!1!1

-Rene Magritte

birdcage for the ribcage of a man, inviting you to look for similarities between the two. But why does the man wear a hat if he has no head? And how does he sit if there is no chair beneath him? The artist doesn't provide an answer. Dreams, after all, can't always be explained.

In The Tomb of the Wrestlers, top right. Magritte uses an unnatural scale to disorient you. This could be a normal-size room filled with a giant rose, or a normal size rose in a room inside a dollhouse. As in a dream, it is open to interpretation.

What do you think the title of this painting, TheFalse Mirror, means?

Ren!Magritte, TheFotse Mirror, 1928. Oilon canvas, 21l/Llx317/8in. Museum of Modern Art. Purchase. 133.1936. Digital Image:The Museum of Modern Art/licensed by SCALAJArt Resource. NY. D2013 C.Herscovici, ondonJArtists Rights Society (AAS), New York.

Strange VisionsMagritte developed techniques to

mimic the things that happen in dreams. Look at the painting of the fireplace and train,on the top left. The scene is impossible! And yet, you can probably come up with a story to explain where the train came from and where it is going. n our dreams, strange juxtapositions make sense to us. Here Magritte asks you to make sense of them while you're awake.

Can you make sense of The Therapist on the bottom left? Magritte substitutes

a

Hidden MeaningsMagritte felt that the titles of his works

were just as important as the images themselves. His 1928 The False Mirror, bottom right, is a startling painting of an eye. The artist cropped the image tightly around the eye and painted the iris to look like

the sky.But why? Magritte's title references a false mirror.Since we don't know what

a false mirror is, there isn't a clear way to understand this image and its title.

Using techniques like juxtaposition , altered scale, and language, Magritte

explores the ideas behind Surrealism. He pulls viewer s like you into his compositions by using rich imagery, but refuses to provide all the answers. n this way, you are part of the work. Your experience in seeing it changes the meaning of each painting.

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ISPOTLIGHT R EN E MAG R ITTE

Things to Know About Rene Magritte

PHOTOGRAPHER ..-Magritte's photo below should

look familiar because it likely

served as a study for The Therapist (page 6).The artist regularly used photography to compose his paintings. Notice thesimilarities between the two compositions. As in the painting, the figure is seated holding a cane and wearing a broad brimmed hat.A blanket and canvas hide

his face and torso,while his arms and legs extend from behind. n addition to using photography, Magritte was inspired by

film and began making short films of his

own in the 1950s.

How would this portrait be different if the figures' faces were visible?

Rene gritte. Thet.ove,s, 1928. 011 on canvas. 5tb:73cm. tlaticmal Gallery, C&nberra. Australia.

Image= Banqued1mages.ADAGP, Art Resource. NY. 02013 C. Herscovic London/Artists Rights Society (ARSL NewYo,k.

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! c ! bjects'

faces, as in his 1928 painting TheLovers, above. There are several theories about this artistic choice. Many believe this imagery came from a tragic incident in the artist's childhood: When Magritte was 12 years old, his mother drowned herself in a river. When Magritte spoke of her death, he recalled that his mother's nightgown covered her face as her body was pulled from the water. Today, historians believe this was just a story Magritte heard from those who discovered her body, becausehe was not present when she was found. Despite the apparent link between this life-changing event and works like The Lovers, Magritte denied that his mother's death was the inspiration for the covered faces in his work.

....Why do you think this photographhas a different effect than The Therapist on page 6 does?

Rene Magritte. 01eu lehuitiemejour, 1937.Gelatinsilver print,3 3/6x21i'ln.TheMetropol tan Museum of Art. Ford Motor Company Collection. Gift or Ford MotorCompany and John C. Waddell, 1987. 1987.1100.312. Photo: OThe MetropolitanMuseum of Art/licensed by Art Resource,NY. C2013 C. Herscovici, ondon/ArtistsRights Society CARS),NrN,York.

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asupplies were often hard to find.

PAINTED IN 3-D •Between the Wor ld Wars, art

Sometimes Magritte couldn't get canvas,

How has Magritte transformedthis mask?

Ren Magritte, TheFuture of Stotues, 1937.011 paint on plaster, 330d65x203mm. The Tate Modern.London. Purchased 198L mage:Tate,London/Art Resource,NY. f:12013 C. Herscovici, ondon/Artists Rights Society CARS),New York.

qWOR DSMITH ..,_The French title of this 1964 painting-Ceci n'est pas une pomme-means, "This is not an apple." But if it's not an apple, what is it? The artist explains, "We see images and words different ly in a picture." Magritte thought it was important to make clear distinctions between the object itself, the nameof the object, and the representation of the object. Here, the artist tells us this is not an apple, but rather a painting of an apple.

Lec.i 71.' e4t µat,unepunwie

Why did Magritte include text inthis painting?

Rene Magritte. Ced n'est pas u.nepomme.196Lt Oil on unilite.1 2x100cm. Private collection. Image: CChristie's Images/The Bridgeman Art library. 02013 C. Herscovici, london/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

What makes the scene below look like a dream?

Rene Magritte. PersonoJ Values. 1952.Oil on canvas. 31 l/b39 318in. Collection SFMOMA. Purchase through a gift of Phyll s Wattis. mage: Banque d'lmages, AOAGP/Art Resource. NY. G2013 C.Herscovici, ondon/ Artists Rights Society CARS). New York.

so he improvised, finding other surfaces on

Iwhich to paint, such as bottles and plaster

r figures. The Future of Statues is one of several sculptures Magritte made by

painting on a commercia l plaster mask. The bright-blue sky and puffy clouds seen here are another recurring theme, or motif, in the artist's work. Magritte utilizes the three-dimensionalpainting surface in a way that isn't possible on flat canvas. The mask's contours, or curves, cast natural shadows and highlights. This creates an ever-changing palette of blues and whites as the light around the sculpture changes.

v s s ! focus on the ubject of a work instead of the techniques used to paint

it. His paintings are perfectly smooth, looking almost like the surface of a photograph. Magritte uses an unnatural scale for the objects in the painting above. But he also includes specific details, like the delicate cracks in the ceiling, which add a high level of realism. This technique grounds a strange scene in reality.

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