Rene Magritte
Rene Magritte, (1898-1967). Belgian surrealist painter. When Magritte was 14 his mother committed suicide, a tragedy alluded to in a number of his works. After’ completing his artistic training in Brussels, he worked for several years designing wallpaper. In 1925 he adopted the surreal style that he would follow for the rest of his life and moved to the Paris area to be near the French Surrealists. He returned to Belgium in 1930. His work is famous for the way it makes familiar objects appear dream-like or menacing by placing them in incongruous surroundings. Certain images — most notably blank-faced men in bowler hats — recur again and again in his paintings. Magritte did not become internationally well known until the last 20 years of his life, when he received several important commissions to provide murals for public buildings.
