TOW #16: René Magritte's "Clairvoyance"

 "Clairvoyance" by Rene Magritte

"Clairvoyance" was painted by Magritte in 1936 in Brussels, Belgium.

http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/rene-magritte/clairvoyance-self-portrait-1936#supersized-artistPaintings-211326

Any artist during the surrealism period had to deal with the inevitable "I don't get it" response from many critics who still preferred less abstract art. Although René Magritte's work is not as abstract as that of many other surrealist artists, it was somewhat more controversial since it was so nearly non-surrealist. All of his work contains discernable parts that, if rearranged, would render his work to be non-surrealist. René Magritte is a Belgian surrealist artist who lived from 1898 to 1967. His work focuses on the idea of how people perceive reality. He is most well-known for his painting "The Treachery of Images" featuring the words "this is not a pipe" (in French) below what is clearly a pipe. Magritte studied art at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels. As of 2009, he has his own museum in Brussel. "Clairvoyance" is a painting featuring a painter who sees an egg but paints a bird. This painting has multiple purposes, all of which are intertwined. Explicitly, he wanted to convey the idea that artists do not always paint what they see, but rather what they can expect; perhaps, although the egg has not yet hatched, an artist can predict with (almost) absolute certainty what will be in the egg with only a bit of guesswork regarding the details of the bird, such as color, shape, and so on. After all, "clairvoyant" comes from clair voir, literally meaning "to see clearly," particularly involving the future. Implicitly, Magritte wanted to show the reader that the artist and the viewer can perceive reality differently, either as what is inevitable or as what is present. This piece was not composed for an audience who appreciates fine art, but rather an audience who appreciates thought-provoking work. Magritte is not applauded for his talent as much as his ingenuity through simplicity.  To achieve his purpose, Magritte uses techniques such as juxtaposition and realistic qualities. He juxtaposes the simple egg against a red background with a majestic, complex bird against a white background. This creates a feeling of admiration for the artist in the painting for his ability to see complexity in simplicity. His use of realistic qualities to offset the somewhat unrealistic factor to "Clairvoyance". Whereas the bird looks very realistic and detailed, it was drawn from an egg. I believe Magritte achieved his purpose because it was so simple that it allowed me to draw meaning from it without any confusion. He effectively conveyed a complex idea through a simple image. The primary reason I believe he achieved his purpose was due to his spectacular juxtaposition of the egg and the bird.