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Rene Magritte & Surrealism Reading & Questions

Questions to answer about the reading:

1.     What is surrealism? Art which releases creativity of the unconscious mind and strangeness

2.     What motif did Magritte use in many of his works? Why was this significant? A man wearing a bowler hat. It is significant because he did a self-portrait as his first piece. 

3.     In his work Golconda, why is it important that Magritte varied the image of the man in the bowler hat?  How does it add depth to the work? It is important because there is more variation in the men the closer that you look. It adds depth by using varied scale and variation of the men.

4.     Why did surreal artists choose to create strange worlds with their art? They believed that if our dreaming minds could create strange worlds, they should be able to.

5.     Explain how the techniques of juxtaposition, altered scale, and language help Magritte explore Surrealism. - He uses juxtaposition to show how our dreams take two different parts of our life and put them side by side. He uses altered scale to create variation and language to reach out to everybody.

6.     What would be a few reasons why Magritte would cover the faces of his subjects? I think he might hide the faces to show that not everybody knows everybody, just by looking at them. He might also do it to show the mystery that is also in our dreams, and why our unconscious mind puts two separate parts of our lives together.

7.     Why did Magritte strive for realism & precision in his paintings? He believed it allowed the viewer to focus on the subject, instead of on the techniques used to make the piece.

8.     Google more of Magritte’s work and include 2 images that interest you.

o   Explain the technique(s) used to enhance the work

o   Hint – review the words in bold from the reading

similarity between the idea of horsepower

variation

Examples of Surreal Portraits

Perception vs. Reality

Perception

-stereotypical blonde
-quiet
-sarcastic
-funny
-closed personality
-occasionally weird
-tired
-angry



Reality

-bubbly personality
-down to earth
-people person
-animal person
-loud
-energetic at times
-detail oriented
-love to laugh & smile
-easily flattered/embarrassed

loud

down to earth

laugher

relaxed

smiley

energetic

detail oriented

easily flattered

Exquisite Corpse

This goes along with the idea of surrealism because some people see you as different than you actually are. We expected the body to look perfect but instead, it was not proportional and we were surprised.