René Magritte
Le Modèle Rouge III, 1937
EXHIBITON Surreal Things: Surrealism & design
Olieverf op doek, 136 x 183 cm
Inventarisnummer: BEK 2992
La reproduction interdite, 1937
EXHIBITON Surreal Things: Surrealism & design
Olieverf op doek, 81.3 x 65 cm
Inventarisnummer: 2923 (MK)
Edward James was a rich English aristocrat and a Surrealist poet who supported both Magritte and Dalí in the 1930s by purchasing their work. Magritte made this mysterious portrait of him. We see Edward James from behind, even though he is standing in front of a mirror. He can see te same thing reflected in it as we can - his back. This is of course impossible. To confuse us even more, Magritte has painted a book by his favourite author Edgar Alan Poe in mirror-image.
Magritte believed that people 'always wanted to see what lay hidden behind what they could actually see'. This painting is an interpretation of this philosophy. What cannot be done in real life, looking into a mirror and seeing the back of your own head, can be done in a painting. These kinds of absurd images were characteristis of Surrealism.
