The Treachery of Images
Rene Magritte, Surrealism
Click the picture to look closer. Esc to leave.
The Treachery of Images is painted when Magritte was 30 years old. The picture shows a pipe. Below it, Magritte painted, "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" French for "This is not a pipe." The painting is not a pipe, but rather an image of a pipe.
Like the other artists and poets associated with the Surrealist movement, Magritte sought to overthrow what he saw as the oppressive rationalism of bourgeois society. This masterpiece of Surrealism creates a three-way paradox out of the conventional notion that objects correspond to words and images. It is one of the most iconic images of Surrealism Movement.
Ask the looking companion
