SURREALISM And the artist RENE MAGRITTE What is

SURREALISM And the artist: RENE MAGRITTE

What is Surrealism? Surrealism: a 20 th century artistic movement that attempted to express the workings of the subconscious by using fantastic imagery and the incongruous juxtaposition of subject matter. Joining two images together in impossible combinations

Surrealism is a term that refers to a heightened sense of reality; translated from French, the term means: “over-realism”-- a vision of reality that supercedes the mundane!

RENE MAGRITTE (pronounced: rna mägrt, 1898 -1967) "My painting is visible images which conceal nothing; they evoke mystery and, indeed, when one sees one of my pictures, one asks oneself this simple question 'What does that mean'? It does not mean anything, because mystery means nothing either, it is unknowable. ” - René Magritte

Rene Magritte was a Belgian surrealist painter. He painted in a realistic style. While the objects appear to the viewer to be recognizable, the composition of those recognizable objects appears fantastic.

What is unusual about this room?

Remember, Magritte changed ordinary things to make them look strange and funny. He changed the size of things (the painting of the bedroom) He changed the place of things (the castle on the rock in the sky) He changed the texture of things (the painting in the window) He changed parts of things (the apple on the man’s nose)

His paintings are expressive for their juxtaposition of common objects, often altered in scale, and placed in absurd settings. Magritte is deeply interested in the process of thought, and his paintings tend to raise the awareness of the viewer to their own thought processes.

More often than not, Magritte chose ordinary things from which to construct his works - trees, chairs, tables, doors, windows, shoes, shelves, landscapes, people. He wanted to be understood via these ordinary things, but he also wanted to shock and surprise his viewers.

Surrealistic Techniques “How to make the ordinary look extraordinary” Scale Levitation Juxtaposition Dislocation Transparency Transformation

SCALE Changing an object’s scale, or relative size.

SCALE

Personal Values SCALE

LEVITA TION Floating objects that don’t normally float

LEVITATION

Golconde LEVITATION

JUXTAPOSITION Joining two images together in impossible combinations

JUXTAPOSITION

JUXTAPOSITION

DISLOCATION Taking an object form its usual environment and placing it in an unfamiliar one

DISLOCATION

DISLOCATION

TRANSPARENC Y Making objects transparent that are not usually transparent

TRANSPARENCY

TRANSPARENCY

TRANSFORMATION Changing objects in unusual ways

TRANSFORMATION

TRANSFORMATION

Now think of some objects or animals of your own, take 2 and combine them to make an ‘unlikely combination’. Remember to give your picture an exciting name! Your drawing needs to be 1 full page that is completely colored in neatly!