All art should inspire thought though it seems to me that surrealism goes that step further: surrealism is about thinking. In particular I love the way in which surrealist painters take commonplace objects and reinterpret them in an unusual, sometimes in an unsettling and vaguely sinister way.
I have in mind the paintings of the Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte, my favourite from the school, who takes the most banal subjects, reproducing them in an almost deadpan way, and then adds a penetrating visual joke. One of my favourites is his Ceci n'est pas une pipe- This is not a pipe- which happens to be a straightforward depiction of, well, a pipe! In one version, just to emphasise the point, he has smoke curling up and on to the picture’s frame.
He is quite right, of course - it’s not a pipe; it’s a painting! Next time, even when you are looking at the most conventional art, do remember that what you are seeing is not a thing but a vision, a single interpretation of a thing.
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ReplyDeleteYes, that would be a good title. :-))
ReplyDeleteSometimes a pipe is just a pipe.
ReplyDeleteI just hate "art"
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ReplyDeleteI would go one step further and say that surrealism was about unconscious thought. I also think that in the case of Magritte, his titles are an integral part of the work, so it's a pity you didn't caption the pictures. Ceci n'est pas une pipe is actually called The Treason of Images, which rather gives the game away.
ReplyDeleteMy own favourite among Magritte's work is the series of paintings with the generic title The Human Condition: you may believe that the landscape continues behind the painting in the foreground, because that is what is depicted in the painting, but you cannot be sure.
Yes, I suppose it's about giving shape to the shapeless!
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