Magritte (Basic Art)

Magritte (Basic Art)

<div id="description_text_headlines" class="margin-bottom"><strong>This is not a book: Everyday enigma from Belgium's leading Surrealist</strong></div> <div class="margin-bottom"> </div> <div class="description_text"> <div id="description_text" class="margin-bottom">From men in bowler hats, floating in the sky, to a painting of a pipe above the caption "this is not a pipe", <strong>René Magritte (1898–1967)</strong> created an <strong>echo-chamber of object and image, name and thing, reality and representation</strong>.<br /><br />Like other Surrealist works, Magritte's paintings combine a <strong>precise, mimetic technique</strong> with <strong>abnormal, alienating configurations</strong> which defy the laws of scale, logic, and science: A comb the height of a wardrobe, rocks that float in the sky, clouds that drift through an open door. The result is a direct yet disorientating realm, often witty, often unsettling, and always prompting us to look beyond the visible, to “<strong>what is hidden by what we see.</strong>”<br /><br />This introductory book explores Magritte's vast repertoire of <strong>visual humor, paradox, and surprise </strong>which to this day makes us look and look again, not only at the painting, but at our sense of self and the world.</div> <div class="margin-bottom"> </div> <div id="series_text" class="margin-bottom"><strong>About the Series:</strong><br />Each book in TASCHEN’s Basic Art series features: <ul> <li>a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance</li> <li>a concise biography</li> <li>approximately 100 illustrations with explanatory captions</li> </ul> </div> </div>