Rene Magritte Merch
Description: Expanded high-resolution version. Not to be Reproduced (La reproduction interdite) is a painting created by Rene Magritte in 1937. This painting was commissioned by poet and Magritte patron Edward James and is considered a portrait of James although James' face is not depicted. This painting was one of three produced by Magritte for the ballroom of James' London home. The work depicts a man standing in front of a mirror, but whereas the book on the mantelpiece is reflected correctly, the man can see only the back of his head.
Description: Finally, a shirt for fans of Belgian Surrealism and broad, fish-out-of-water Aussie comedy. The image reads “Ceci n’est pas un couteau… ceci est un couteau” which translates into Australian as “That’s not a knife… that’s a knife”, a phrase popularised by Prime Minister Paul Hogan during his time as cultural ambassador to the US in the 1980s. The image causes the viewer to question the very nature of art, reality, and knives.
Description: Magritte painted The Son of Man as a self-portrait. The painting consists of a man in an overcoat and a bowler hat standing in front of a short wall, beyond which is the sea and a cloudy sky. The man's face is largely obscured by a hovering green apple. However, the man's eyes can be seen peeking over the edge of the apple. Another subtle feature is that the man's left arm appears to bend backwards at the elbow.
Description: One of Magritte's most common artistic devices was the use of objects to hide what lies behind them. For example, in The Son of Man (1964) an apple hides the face of a man wearing a bowler hat, and in The Pleasure Principle (1937) a bright flash likewise obscures a face. In The Human Condition, the cover-up appears in the form of a painting within a painting. Magritte had this to say of his 1933 work: "In front of a window seen from inside a room, I placed a painting representing exactly that portion of the landscape covered by the painting. Thus, the tree in the picture hid the tree behind it, outside the room. For the spectator, it was both inside the room within the painting and outside in the real landscape."
