Surrealism

For many people, Magritte's works are the first to come to mind when the surrealism is mentioned. Magritte created a world of well-dressed men in bowler hats (a staple of pre-war European dress still happily embraced by Brussels' corps of business men on trains) around whom odd things happen (toys trains coming out of walls, houses with faces, a pipe bearing the legend, "this is not a pipe") without ever breaking their compsure. In Magritte's world, the unconsious is fully conscious as in dreams and we simply see with emotions on new world existing all around us all of the time. Magritte's works are to be found in every important collection of modern art. Magritte prints, however, are rare and scarce: he came late to printmaking and he only made two lithographs and about 18 etchings between 1962 and his death.

Biography:
1898 November 21, René François-Ghislain Magritte is born in Lessines, Hainaut (Belgium).
1912 March 12. The body of Magritte's mother is fished out of the water. She threw herself into the river Sambre. The family leaves for Charleroi.
1913 Meets his future wife, Georgette Berger.
1914 Enrols as pupil at the Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels.
1918 The Magritte family moves to Brussels.
1921 Military service.
1922 June 28. Marries Georgette Berger. Works as graphic artist. He mainly draws motifs for wall-paper. He is deeply affected by "Song of love" by Giorgio de Chirico.
1923 Sells his first painting, a portrait of the singer Evelyne Brélia.
1926 Paints his first surrealist work, "Le Jockey Perdu", and produces various advertising drawings.
1927 First exhibition in Brussels. Magritte exhibits 61 of his works at the gallery Le Centaure, Brussels. Meets the writer Louis Scutenaire. René and Georgette move to Perreux-sur-Marne near Paris. They make friends with Miró, Eluard, Breton and Arp.
1929 In Cadaquès, Spain, the Magritte family stays at the Dali's in the company of Paul and Gala Eluard. Magritte contributes to the final issue of the "Révolution Surréaliste". He paints the first version (in french) of his famous work: "The treachery of Images".
1937 Magritte paints large canvasses for Edward James in London. He gives a speech at the London Gallery.
1940 Magritte and his wife move to the south of France in Carcassonne.
1943 Magritte tries out a new style of painting. This is his "Renoir" or "Solar" style which he continues until 1947 together with his customary style.
1947 First monograph on the artist by Louis Scutenaire. Beginning of the "cow period".
1948 Exhibition in the Galerie du Faubourg, in Paris. Magritte shows his new style, the public is startled. Magritte has to give up this new way of painting.
1952 Magritte becomes the director of a new publication: "La carte d'après nature".
1953 Murals for the casino at Knokke-le-Zoute.
1960 Visit to André Breton in Paris. Meeting with Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst and Man Ray.
1965 Stay in Ischia in Italy. Magritte's health declines. Visit to Rome. Departs for New York and the Museum of Modern Art where there is a retrospective of his work.
1966 Magritte and his wife spend their holidays in Cannes, Montecatini and Milan.
1967 Exhibition in the Galerie Iolas in Paris. Holiday in Italy. Retrospective in Rotterdam. Magritte retouches the wax models of his first sculptures.

15 August 1967, René Magritte dies. ...

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