Born on this date in 1898 was Rene Magritte, Belgian surrealistic painter. 10 things you might not know about him:
René François Ghislain Magritte was born in Lessines, Belgium. His father was a tailor and textile merchant and his mother had been a milliner, which some say was the reason behind the fact so many of his paintings had hats in them.
When he was 14, Magritte’s mother drowned herself in a river near the family home. Legend has it that Magritte was there when they pulled her body out of the river, her face obscured by her dress, which also influenced his art with obscured faces another common motif.
He worked as a draughtsman in a Wallpaper factory in the early 1920s and later as a freelance graphic designer producing advertisements. Alfa Romeo was one of his clients.
In 1926, Magritte produced his first surreal painting, which was called The Lost Jockey. In 1927 he held his first solo exhibition in Brussels. However, the critics panned it, and a frustrated Magritte moved to Paris to join the surrealist movement there.
He married Georgette Berger in 1922. He first met her when she was 13 and he was 15 and they stayed married until Magritte died. There was a separation at one point, however, when Magritte wanted to have an affair with a young artist called Sheila Legg. He asked a friend, Paul Colinet, to distract his wife while he was conducting the affair, but this only resulted in Georgette and Paul having a full blown affair. They were apart for a few years and then reconciled.
Magritte is believed to have created forgeries of works by Picasso, Titian, Ernst and Chirico. According to legend, his talent for forging things came in handy during the German occupation of Belgium between 1940 and 1944. He forged bank notes in order to survive.
His art changed during that period as well. He said, ‘Before the war, my paintings expressed anxiety, but the experiences of war have taught me that what matters in art is to express charm. I live in a very disagreeable world, and my work is meant as a counter-offensive.’
Between 1934 and 1937, Magritte drew film posters under the pseudonym 'Emair'.
He was also interested in photography and film making. He often appeared in home movies, acting out scenarios with hastily assembled casts of characters.
Magritte died of pancreatic cancer in 1967 at the age of 68. He left behind an unfinished painting which had probably been commissioned by a young German collector. The incomplete work remained on its easel in the Magritte home until Georgette Magritte died in 1986.
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