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‘Magritte. The Treachery of images’ at Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt

Magritte - La Lampe philosophique

René Magritte, “La Lampe philosophique”, 1936, Oil on canvas, 46 x 55 cm, Private collection © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016

‘Magritte. The Treachery of images’ at the Schirn René Magritte (1898–1967) conjures enigmatic paintings. In ‘Magritte. The Treachery of images’, the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt explores his relationship to the philosophical currents of his time. February 10 to June 5, 2017]]>

Source: Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt

Magritte did not see himself as an artist, but rather as a thinking human being who conveyed his thoughts through his painting. Throughout his life he sought to imbue painting with meaning equal to that of language. Driven by his curiosity and his affinities with some of the leading philosophers of his age, such as Michael Foucault, he created a remarkable body of work and developed an altered view of the world that is reflected in a unique combination of accurate, masterful painting and conceptual processes.

Organized in collaboration with the Centre Pompidou, Musée national d’art modern, Paris, the exhibition sheds light on Magritte’s most important pictorial formulas, which deal with the myth of invention and the definition of painting. The quasi-scientific method that Magritte applied in his painting bears witness to his distrust of simple answers and simplistic realism. The Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt is presenting some 70 artworks, including numerous masterpieces from major international museums as well as public and private collections, among them the Musée Magritte in Brussels, the Kunstmuseum Bern, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Menil Collection in Houston, the Tate in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

The exhibition is under the joint high patronage of the Federal President Joachim Gauck and of His Majesty the King of the Belgians.

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‘Magritte. The Treachery of images’ at Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt