René Magritte is celebrated today as one of Surrealism’s most talented artists, and, alongside Salvador Dalí, the cheeky, subversive Belgian painter and author is the movement’s best-known representative, having cemented his legacy with what may be the most iconic five words in all of art history: “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” (This is not a pipe).
Magritte’s success, though, hardly came overnight. Born in 1898 in Lessines to a wealthy manufacturer, he studied at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels from 1916 to 1918 but quit before graduation. His early artistic work wavered between Cubism and semi-abstraction, and he found work as a graphic designer while experimenting with his own creative oeuvre. In the mid-1920s, he began to experiment with Surrealism, then a relatively nascent movement that had grown out of the absurdist Dada. Led by André Breton, Surrealism endeavored to record elements of the subconscious and present contradictory, sometimes even nonsensical, narratives that challenged the notion of an absolute reality.
Magritte’s first widely recognized work within this genre was 1927’s The Menaced Assassin, now in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Shortly after completing this work, Magritte relocated to Paris, to be closer to Breton and the center of the Surrealist movement. This decision would prove critical in his life — and in the trajectory of Surrealist art history. The three years Magritte spent in Paris were his most prolific, and by the close of the 1920s he had completed some of his best-known work, including the seminal 1929 The Treachery of Images, a simple picture of what appears to be a pipe, with the words “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” in neat script below it.
Magritte returned to Brussels in the early 1930s but continued experimenting with work that wavered between dreamlike and nonsensical. His influences throughout this part of his career ranged from Breton to Giorgio de Chirico and Dalí. While living in German-occupied Belgium beginning in the early 1940s, Magritte entered what is often called his Renoir period or what he labeled “Sunlit Surrealism.” He worked in comparatively brighter, more vibrant colors and produced oil paintings and gouaches that were overrun with light and the type of brushstrokes that are usually associated with Impressionist art.
Like many artists during and after the war, Magritte thought deeply about art’s role in answering big existential questions and broke with Surrealism as a result. His Impressionistic The Fifth Season in 1943 resembled little of what he’d painted in years past. His so-called Vache period that followed would represent another stylistic shift that owed to German Expressionism. Not everything changed, however; Magritte would go on to revisit his earliest creative impulses, in some cases appropriating elements from fellow artists in his own depictions, as with his Perspective II: Manet’s Balcony in 1950, a playful and probing reinterpretation of Edouard Manet’s The Balcony. Later in his career, the artist dabbled in sculpture, before dying in 1967.
Find original René Magritte prints and other art on 1stDibs.
Chants de Maldoror - Rare Book Illustrated by René Magritte - 1948
By René Magritte
Located in Roma, IT
Les Chants de Maldoror is an original modern rare book written by Comte de Lautréamont, pseudonym of Isidore Lucien Ducasse (Montevideo, 1846 — Paris, 1870) and illustrated by René ...
Paper, Photogravure
Chants de Maldoror - Rare Book Illustrated by René Magritte - 1948
By René Magritte
Located in Roma, IT
Les Chants de Maldoror is an original modern rare book written by Comte de Lautréamont, pseudonym of Isidore Lucien Ducasse (Montevideo, 1846 — ...
Paper, Photogravure
$2,499
H 15.75 in W 13 in D 0.4 in
François Xavier Lalanne, bird on lillies, 2006
By François-Xavier Lalanne
Located in Saint-Didier, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Natural history - François-Xavier Lalanne Etching Numbered out of 70 and signed F.X.L. in pencil Robert and Lydie Dutrou editors 2006. Paper size: 40x33cm Work size: 16x19.5cm
Paper
$12,000
H 15.75 in W 11.75 in D 2 in
Nineteen Famous People, Twenty-Two Friends, and Six Nudes
By Mark Beard
Located in New York, NY
Handmade portfolio of 47 Polaroid transfer prints with accompanying text by Mark Beard, handwritten in pencil (Edition of 10 + 5 APs) Signed and numbered in pencil 15.75 x 11.75 x ...
Photogravure
Jeune fille
By Henri Matisse
Located in OPOLE, PL
Henri Matisse (1869-1954) - Jeune fille Photogravure from 1937. Dimensions of work: 35.5 x 26.4 cm Publisher: Tériade, Paris. The work is in Excellent condition. Fast and secure...
Photogravure
$509Sale Price|20% Off
H 16.54 in W 23.63 in
Chroessi Schnell - "Schizophrenic Landscape" - surrealist landscape drawing
Located in Winterswijk, NL
Chroessi Schnell - "Schizophrenic Landscape". Surrealism, abstract forms, dream universe. It is an extended version of the Alienations of the maps of "Münsterland" where my mother ...
Paper
$238
H 13 in W 10 in D 2 in
DALI, The Work and the Man - by Robert DESCHARNES # Hardcover Art Book
By Salvador Dalí
Located in Paris, IDF
Dali The Work and the Man by Robert Descharnes Hardcover coffee table art book. Master artist Salvador Dali large coffee table book. Dated 1984. This 453-page book is in English...
Paper
$1,785
H 11.03 in W 14.97 in D 0.4 in
François Xavier lalanne the spider 2003
By François-Xavier Lalanne
Located in Saint-Didier, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
François Xavier lalanne l'araignée the spider lithograph circa 2003 signed in pencil lower right limited edition of 75 copies from the "ordinar...
Paper
$5,500
H 8.5 in W 10.75 in D 0.5 in
Monograph: Francis Bacon (hand signed and warmly inscribed by Francis Bacon)
By Francis Bacon
Located in New York, NY
Francis Bacon Francis Bacon (hand signed and warmly inscribed by Francis Bacon), 1975 Softcover catalogue with stiff wraps (hand signed and warmly inscribed by Francis Bacon) hand si...
Paper, Ink, Mixed Media, Lithograph, Offset, Felt Pen
$1,400
H 24 in W 18 in
Red Bow II - Original Framed Surrealist Figurative Portrait
By Carlos Gamez de Francisco
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The figurative surrealistic paintings of Carlos Gamez de Francisco are heavily influenced by his Cuban upbringing in a Russian governed academia setting. This presence exposed Franci...
Ink, Watercolor, Archival Paper, Graphite
$1,380
H 24.02 in W 16.93 in
Jean Cocteau Mixed Media Collage on Archival Paper, Signed, 10/13
Located in CANNES, FR
13BIS . Novembre 2022 collage et impression numérique jet d'encre pigmentaire sur papier coton 310g . numéroté 10/13. et signé au dos par 13bis . 13bis , street artiste collagiste ...
Archival Paper
$480
H 14.5 in W 17.5 in
"(Love's) Ring of Fire", Intaglio with Aquatint, geometric shapes, patterns
By Katie VanVliet
Located in Philadelphia, PA
This piece titled "(Love's) Ring of Fire" is a limited edition piece by Kate VanVliet and is made from intaglio with aquatint, soft ground, and drypoint on Rives BFK. This piece is a...
Intaglio, Aquatint, Drypoint, Paper
Untitled (Landscape with Figure)
By Joseph Cornell
Located in New York, NY
Color photogravure, 1972. Signed by the artist in pencil and with artist's stamp, lower margin. Numbered 106/125 in pencil, lower left margin. Published by Brooke Alexander, Inc.,...
Photogravure, Color
$297Sale Price|33% Off
H 12 in W 11.6 in D 0.6 in
Analphabetogramme - Signatur Objekt Nr. 23 (Collages, Assemblages, Surrealism)
By Jiri Kolar
Located in Kansas City, MO
Jiri Kolar (Jiří Kolář) Analphabetogramme - Signatur Objekt Nr. 23 (Collages, Assemblages, Poetry, Surrealism) Analphabétogramme (hand-pressed copper print) with matte Year: 1995 Size: 12×11.6×0.6in Edition: 756 of 990 Signed, numbered by hand Publisher: First Edition, Verlag Rommerskirchen, Rolandseck - Germany COA provided Ref.: 924802-1933 White original cardboard in a Plexiglas slipcase, signed and numbered, number 756 of 990. 28 pages in block book form, texts and colored illustrations of collaged sculpture photographs, 1 loosely enclosed hand-signed original hand-pressed copper print ("Analphabétograms") under passepartout. The cardboard cover is cut out like a passe-partout so that the title illustration is visible when the book is hung on the wall as an art object using the acrylic glass frame provided. Tags: Czech artist,Poet,Visual artist,Political activist,Collages,Assemblages,Poetry,Surrealism,Dada...
Copper
Les bijoux indiscrets
By René Magritte
Located in OPOLE, PL
René Magritte (1898-1967) - Les bijoux indiscrets Lithograph from 1975. Edition 371/575 (Photocopy of the colophone is included). Dimensions of work: 31 x 24 cm. Plate signed. E...
Lithograph