René Magritte

Ce n'est pas une revue d'art...

When I was thinking of things to say about Magritte’s work I figured that “thought provoking” would be a good thing to say - then I realised that logic can’t be applied to Magritte’s work, you simply have to enjoy and accept it.

Whilst I was in Brussels recently I decided to pop into the Magritte museum, I’d seen it before it was opened when the building was covered in a Magritte sheet:

I expected dreary classical portraits of the Virgin Mary and Jesus, hunters posing next to their dogs and flemish fruit bowls like you’ll find next door in the Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique (that’s the ‘Royal museum of fine art in Belgium’ for those of us who don’t speak french) Lets just say I was bracing myself for a bored slob around a pretentious collection. I knew my first impression had been wrong when I got into the lift taking me from the royal museum to the Magritte museum, for starters the lift had a window and every floor we passed, we passed another section of her body. The museum was dark but well presented, even the information was lovingly routed into wood on the walls.

When I saw the first couple of pieces I had to remark on them all; “what, why, how...eh?” my parents couldn’t summon the answers, neither could the information on the walls or probably anyone but Magritte himself, so we carry on around the museum and laugh, exchange double or singular raised eyebrows or just stare to see if that would gather any reasoning. I did find Magritte’s work was somewhat humorous but [potentially unintentionally] symbolistic, though I still can’t figure out what this orb is all about:

There were parts of the museum where you could see pieces form Magritte’s sketch book or scraps of paper where he’d played games with his friends that could have inspired him. There was also a display of posters which I really enjoyed. When Magritte is being himself and painting ‘normally’ it’s marvellous, the surrealism mixed with his technique is great but then there’s times when he tried to be someone else, someone who was trying to be fauvist or post impressionist; the idea behind the painting was good and weird as ever but the off-style soured the painting for me. I was also disappointed by his sculpture work, they seemed to be 3D images of his paintings, in fact I’m pretty sure one of them was a 3D image of one of his paintings. I loved his paintings because they make you question what you’re seeing and also what you can’t see but in his sculptures you can see everything and it just seemed like he was ripping himself off, sadly.

I have to say, I did enjoy the gift shop! I bought a notebook with the pipe that claims not to be a pipe on the front, a book on Magritte and a little badge. If I wasn’t flying home (hand-luggage only) that afternoon I would have bought Magritte espresso cups, Magritte plates, Magritte ties, Magritte fridge magnets... I would have gone to town to say the least, the posters were only €12! One thing I would say though is that there was an abundance of books that people didn’t seem to be buying, there’s always an abundance of books in art gallery/ museum gift shops, come on, everyone just uses the internet these days, even though I bought a book to read on the plane...

Overall I loved the gallery space, I loved the layout and I definitely loved Magritte and his work. The Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique has definitely made my list of ‘Things to re-visit in Brussels’ which, I think, is a massive compliment!

Magritte’s work: 5/5 (for the classic pieces)
Curating: 4/5
Gallery: 4.5/5

That’s 90% enjoyment!