- Réné Magritte is one of the most popular artists of the 20th century. His work continues to be the object of many international exhibitions. - Many books have been published on the artist, but this book presents an accessible and complete introduction to his oeuvre and his life - Includes a surprising mix of his emblematic paintings and lesser-known works Magritte in 400 images offers a selection of the most iconic paintings from the master Surrealist, René Magritte, along with a multitude of perhaps less well-known, but no less exciting jewels from his expansive oeuvre. The novel choice of works will surprise and delight the reader as they continue to uncover ever more facets of the celebrated painter, from his gouaches to his painted bottles and much more. Spanning seven chapters, this book brings together the myriad aspects of Magritte's pictorial vision. Beginning with his first forays into abstract painting in the 1920s, navigating his search for solace in his Sunlit Period, as well as his brittle période vache and moving on to his Surrealist masterpieces of the 1950s and 1960s, it gently guides the reader through Magritte's world. Each chapter opens with a summary of the artistic stakes at play during that period and Magritte's place in them, immersing the reader in the contemporary artistic milieu. The 400 reproductions of Magritte's work are complemented by a unique selection of historical photographs. Alive with images and information, this compact gem is a must-have for all art enthusiasts and connoisseurs.

A richly illustrated book that dives into Ren� Magritte's photo and film archive, revealing a lesser-known side of the surrealist master. In this richly illustrated book, Xavier Canonne, director of the Museum of Photography in Charleroi, dives into Ren� Magritte's photo and film archive, revealing a lesser-known side of the surrealist master. Discovered in the 1970s, more than ten years after the artist's death, this collection gives us access to a family album, an informal Magritte, from his childhood to the last years of his life. We see Magritte with his parents and brothers, as a newly married man with his wife Georgette, and with his contemporaries in the Brussels Surrealist group. Spontaneous snapshots are complemented by posed scenes, including improvised tableaux with his fellow artists, parodies of famous movies consciously arranged with Georgette, portraits of Magritte at his easel at home, and staged photographs as models for his paintings. Images where the artist and his friends hide their faces or turn away from the camera particularly resonate with his paintings and his investigation of the 'hidden visible'. While other Surrealists such as Man Ray and Raoul Ubac made photography an essential part of their work, Magritte remained a true painter. Yet this book demonstrates that his photographs and home movies are so pervaded with his spirit that they are inseparable from his oeuvre of paintings.

"This lavishly illustrated book assembles a wide range of Magritte's work, providing a thorough overview that focuses on all aspects of his oeuvre: paintings, drawings, collages, graphic design, prints and sculptures."--Inside jacket.

"Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see." —Rene Magritte D.B. Johnson writes and illustrates the surreal story of famous surrealist painter Rene Magritte and his very mysterious (and mischievous!) hat. While the art reflects some of Magritte's own work, the text sets readers on a fun and accessible path to learning about the simpler concepts behind Mr. Magritte's work. This delightful picture book captures the playfulness and the wonderment of surrealist art.

This major new book on René Magritte offers fresh interpretations of the artist's use of symbols and imagery to articulate his particular brand of surrealism. In this beautiful monograph, a collection of revelatory essays focuses on five common images in René Magritte's work--fire, shadows, curtains, words, and the fragmented body. Featuring vibrant reproductions of more than 100 works, this book helps readers understand how the artist employed these images in ways both deceptive and realistic. The book explores how he distorted accepted interpretations of classic symbols; why he so often used words as elements of his paintings; and how he applied aspects of the theater in his works. As Magritte's paintings have become subsumed by the very commercialism they sought to ridicule, this volume takes a fresh look at an artist whose familiarity masks an incredible gift for deception and rapier-like intellect.

The first major biography of the pathbreaking, perpetually influential surrealist artist and iconoclast whose inspiration can be seen in everyone from Jasper Johns to Beyoncé—by the celebrated biographer of Cézanne and Braque In this thought-provoking life of René Magritte (1898-1967), Alex Danchev makes a compelling case for Magritte as the single most significant purveyor of images to the modern world. Magritte’s surreal sensibility, deadpan melodrama, and fine-tuned outrageousness have become an inescapable part of our visual landscape, through such legendary works as The Treachery of Images (Ceci n’est pas une pipe) and his celebrated iterations of Man in a Bowler Hat. Danchev explores the path of this highly unconventional artist from his middle-class Belgian beginnings to the years during which he led a small, brilliant band of surrealists (and famously clashed with André Breton) to his first major retrospective, which traveled to the United States in 1965 and gave rise to his international reputation. Using 50 color images and more than 160 black-and-white illustrations, Danchev delves deeply into Magritte’s artistic development and the profound questions he raised in his work about the very nature of authenticity. This is a vital biography for our time that plumbs the mystery of an iconoclast whose influence can be seen in everyone from Jasper Johns to Beyoncé.