<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>331773</docID> <postdate>2024-10-25 14:45:54</postdate> <headline>Surreal world of René Magritte comes to Australia</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-331774" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/20241025134413274752-original-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" /></p> <caption>An exhibition of René Magritte's work is opening at the Art Gallery of NSW in a first for Australia.(Dan Himbrechts/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Liz Hobday</strong></span></p> <p><strong>A pipe, a green apple, a man in a bowler hat: the visual language of surrealist René Magritte is among the most recognisable of any artist.</strong></p> <p>It's so ingrained in our culture that people often experience a sense of deja vu standing in front of his paintings, according to Nicholas Chambers from the Art Gallery of NSW.</p> <p>"They recognise echoes of his paintings from cinema and advertising - he's one of the most quoted artists of the 20th century," said Chambers.</p> <p>Yet in Australia his work has for the most part only been shown in group exhibitions dedicated to the surrealist movement he was a part of.</p> <p>That's finally being remedied, with the first Australian retrospective of his work opening at the Art Gallery of NSW on Saturday, featuring 100 artworks.</p> <p>A man in a bowler hat, his face obscured by an apple? That's Magritte.</p> <p>A image of a pipe, with a label stating it's definitely not a pipe? An eye, its iris a field of cloudy sky? That's him too.</p> <p>The show spans Magritte's four-decade career, from commercial designs of the 1920s, his contributions to surrealism and provocative work made during World War II, and finally his celebrated later paintings.</p> <p>Magritte was a key figure in surrealism, an avant-garde art movement that flourished in Europe between the world wars, delving into dreams and the subconscious with the aim of accessing a new kind of reality.</p> <p>While Magritte spent almost all of his career in Brussels, he did live in Paris for a time, becoming friends with the likes of Salvador Dali and André Breton.</p> <p>What emerges from the retrospective is not only a front-row look at surrealist painting, but also a sense of Magritte's irreverent humour.</p> <p>"There is a strong prankster attitude, it's there all the way to the end," said Chambers.</p> <p>While Magritte is known as a painter, the show also includes some of his experimentation with publishing, film and photography.</p> <p>About half of the artworks come from private collections in Belgium, and the rest are drawn from institutions including the Menil Collection in Houston.</p> <p>Three pieces are from Australian collections: the National Gallery of Victoria's In Praise of Dialectics; the National Gallery of Australia's The Lovers; and A Variation on Sadness from Kerry Stokes' private collection.</p> <p>The show is part of the Sydney International Art Series 2024–25, which includes Cao Fei: My City is Yours, also at the AGNSW, and a Julie Mehretu show at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.</p> <p><em>Magritte runs until February 9.</em></p> </body>