Discover new books on Goodreads

See if your friends have read any of René Magritte's books

René Magritte’s Followers (79)

René Magritte

Born

in Lessines, Hainaut, Belgium

November 21, 1898

Died

August 15, 1967

Genre

Arts & Photography

edit data

René François Ghislain Magritte was a Belgian surrealist artist. He became well known for a number of witty and thought-provoking images.

Magritte was born in Lessines, in the province of Hainaut, in 1898, the eldest son of Léopold Magritte, a tailor, and Adeline, a milliner. He began lessons in drawing in 1910. In 1912, his mother committed suicide by drowning herself in the River Sambre. Magritte was present when her body was retrieved from the water. The image of his mother floating, her dress obscuring her face, may have influenced a 1927–1928 series of paintings of people with cloth obscuring their faces, including Les Amants, but Magritte disliked this explanation. He studied at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels for two ye René François Ghislain Magritte was a Belgian surrealist artist. He became well known for a number of witty and thought-provoking images.

Magritte was born in Lessines, in the province of Hainaut, in 1898, the eldest son of Léopold Magritte, a tailor, and Adeline, a milliner. He began lessons in drawing in 1910. In 1912, his mother committed suicide by drowning herself in the River Sambre. Magritte was present when her body was retrieved from the water. The image of his mother floating, her dress obscuring her face, may have influenced a 1927–1928 series of paintings of people with cloth obscuring their faces, including Les Amants, but Magritte disliked this explanation. He studied at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels for two years until 1918. In 1922 he married Georgette Berger, whom he had met in 1913.

Magritte worked as an assistant designer in a wallpaper factory, and was a poster and advertisement designer until 1926, when a contract with Galerie la Centaure in Brussels made it possible for him to paint full-time. In 1926, Magritte produced his first surreal painting, The Lost Jockey (Le jockey perdu), and held his first exhibition in Brussels in 1927. Critics heaped abuse on the exhibition. Depressed by the failure, he moved to Paris where he became friends with André Breton, and became involved in the surrealist group.

When Galerie la Centaure closed and the contract income ended, he returned to Brussels and worked in advertising. Then, with his brother, he formed an agency, which earned him a living wage.

Surrealist patron Edward James allowed Magritte, in the early stages of his career, to stay rent free in his London home and paint. James is featured in two of Magritte's pieces, Le Principe du Plaisir (The Pleasure Principle) and La Reproduction Interdite.

During the German occupation of Belgium in World War II he remained in Brussels, which led to a break with Breton. At the time he renounced the violence and pessimism of his earlier work, though he returned to the themes later.

His work was exhibited in the United States in New York in 1936 and again in that city in two retrospective exhibitions, one at the Museum of Modern Art in 1965, and the other at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1992.

Magritte died of pancreatic cancer on August 15, 1967 and was interred in Schaarbeek Cemetery, Brussels.

Popular interest in Magritte's work rose considerably in the 1960s, and his imagery has influenced pop, minimalist and conceptual art. In 2005 he came 9th in the Walloon version of De Grootste Belg (The Greatest Belgian); in the Flemish version he was 18th. ...more

Combine Editions
René Magritte’s books

Average rating: 4.19 · 1,461 ratings · 99 reviews · 107 distinct works • Similar authors

	Magritte by René Magritte, Jacques Meuris 4.25 avg rating — 587 ratings — published 1988 — 35 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	René Magritte: Selected Writings by René Magritte, Jo Levy (Translation), Kathleen Rooney (Goodreads Author) (Editor) 4.27 avg rating — 71 ratings — published 2016 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Magritte by René Magritte, Michel Draguet (Introduction), David Sylvester 4.36 avg rating — 50 ratings — published 1992 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary, 1926-1938 by René Magritte (Artist), Stephanie D’Alessandro (Contributor), Michel Draguet (Contributor) 4.51 avg rating — 47 ratings — published 2013 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Magritte 1898-1967 by René Magritte, Gisèle Ollinger-Zinque, David Sylvester 4.35 avg rating — 20 ratings — published 1998	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Magritte, The True Art Of Painting by René Magritte, Harry Torczyner 4.10 avg rating — 21 ratings — published 1978 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Selected Writings 4.29 avg rating — 17 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Magritte by René Magritte, Sarah Whitfield (Goodreads Author) 4.64 avg rating — 14 ratings — published 1992 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Escritos 3.76 avg rating — 17 ratings — published 1979 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Magritte/Torczyner: Letters Between Friends by René Magritte, Harry Torczyner 4.44 avg rating — 9 ratings — published 1994 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by René Magritte…

Quotes by René Magritte (?)

“Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see, but it is impossible. Humans hide their secrets too well....”
― Rene Magritte

tags: art, philosophy

134 likes

“Art evokes the mystery without which the world would not exist”
― René Magritte

tags: art

63 likes

“If the dream is a translation of waking life, waking life is also a translation of the dream.”
― René Magritte

tags: dream, reality

58 likes

See all René Magritte's quotes »

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Goodreads Librari...: Merge author profiles	4252	1274	8 hours, 10 min ago

René Magritte’s Followers (79)

René Magritte

Combine EditionsRené Magritte’s books

Topics Mentioning This Author

Combine Editions
René Magritte’s books