Lucy Hummer Photo Blog: April 2015

What is surrealism?

surrealism is the making of art based on the ideas seen in dream, juxtaposing unrelated objects

What motif did Magritte use in many of his works? Why was this significant?

the man in the bowler hat is Margritte's main motif, and many people think that he is a self portrait, because in his first painting he was

In his work Golconda, why is it important that Magritte varied the image of the man in the bowler hat? How does it add depth to the work?

repetition of the exact same figure would have made the painting boring, but the slight variation keeps the eye moving around the piece

Why did surreal artists choose to create strange worlds with their art?

since they were basing their art on dreams, they wanted to mimic this in the worlds they created. If a dream count be a new world, why can't art?

Explain how the techniques of juxtaposition, altered scale, and language help Magritte explore Surrealism.
Magritte believed that juxtaposing unrelated objects can cause a response just as strong as waking up from a strange dream. The altered scale gives the pieces a sense of background, middle ground and foreground. He liked to make his art relatively unexplainable.

What would be a few reasons why Magritte would cover the faces of his subjects?
many critics believe that Magritte covers his subjects' faces because of his mothers death as a child. Her nightgown was covering her face when she was found. However, he denies that this is why he covers the faces.
Why did Magritte strive for realism & precision in his paintings?
Magritte believed that if painting have realism and precision, the viewer will focus more on what the painting is saying and less on the techniques used to create it.

These pieces display Magritte's use of covering the faces, which I like. They are very surreal. I like the shot on the left the best, because it has a very lucid dreamlike quality. The juxtaposition in the pieces adds to the sense of surrealism, despite the realist technique.