24th Annual Student Research Conference
All Those Pretty Pictures? An Analysis of Ren Magrittes Use of Language with Art
Ruby B. Jenkins
Dr. Julia DeLancey, Dr. Sara Orel, and Prof. John Bohac , Faculty Mentors
What happens when images begin to contradict themselves and words, while accurate, fail to make sense of the world we see? Language is one way that we understand the reality we live in, and visual art has been the link between our inner reality, what we see and think about reality, and outer reality, the physical forms that surround us. In the early 1920s, Surrealist artists began to create art that depicted how they perceived the world to be, rather than as it physically appeared around them. One master of the subtle erosion of communication between inner and outer reality is Renè Magritte. By studying Magritte's use of written words and paradoxical subject matter within his paintings, I explore how language is rendered powerless to aid in understanding Magritte's work. This paper will include analysis of specific examples of Magrittes paintings such as Time Transfixed, and Collective Invention.
Keywords: Magritte, Surrealism, language, reality, paintings, art, paradox, Early 1900s
Topic(s):Art History
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 36-1
Location: OP 2121
Time: 2:45