Corinne: April 2015

Questions to answer about the reading:

1. What is surrealism?

Ideas developed by strange dreams, using unrelated objects and placing them side by side.

2. What motif did Magritte use in many of his works? Why was this significant?

Man with a bowler hat, he used to dress that way and it inspired him when he saw other men dressed the same way.

3. In his work Golconda, why is it important that Magritte varied the image of the man in the bowler hat? How does it add depth to the work?

Each “man with the hat” looks very similar, but when analyzed, each man has different characteristics. He uses scale, foreground, and background to create depth.

4. Why did surreal artists choose to create strange worlds with their art?

They wanted to bring their dreams to life.

5. Explain how the techniques of juxtaposition, altered scale, and language help Magritte explore Surrealism.

He uses imagery and allows to viewers to keep an open mind and fill in the empty holes. He wants people to be apart of the painting/story.

6. What would be a few reasons why Magritte would cover the faces of his subjects?

There were many theories that inspired the “covering of the faces”. When Magritte was a boy, his mother drowned herself in a river and it was said that her face was covered with her nightgown.

7. Why did Magritte strive for realism & precision in his paintings?

He wanted viewers to focus on the subject other than what the artist used to create the subject. His paintings were smooth and very detailed which could be mistaken for a photograph.

8. Google more of Magritte’s work and include 2 images that interest you.