Earlier in the year, I had been to the Art Gallery of NSW to see some exhibitions, and after viewing Puticia, the Corpse Flower at the Botanic Gardens, it seemed a good time to visit the nearby Art Gallery. Sue was with me for the first part – seeing some classic Australian paintings, then I visited the Magritte exhibition by myself. It was most interesting.
Here are some well known Australian works of art –
Sidney Nolan – Ned Kelly
Piguenit – Mt Olympus, Tasmania
Piguenit – Nepean Gorge
Arthur Streeton – Sirius Cove
Tom Roberts – Sir Henry Parkes
Tom Roberts
Tom Roberts – Coogee
Arthur Streeton – Glenbrook Tunnel
And now to see the works of Magritte.
Rene Magritte was a Belgium artist, belong to the surrealist school. He lived in Paris for a long time, and lived from 1898 to 1967.
Early works –
Some of his early work was commercial –
This is a picture of Magritte’s wife, and on the back of the same canvas is the self portrait below.
More commercial works –
Now into the surrealist phase –
Features that reoccur in Magritte’s work are bowler hats, clouds, apples and pipes.
Below is a deconstructed nude –
A painting within a painting. What is real?
Later in his life, Magritte painted forgeries that he sold for high prices. Mainly Picassos. This one is a forgery of a work by Titian –
More surrealist works –
Another painting within a painting –
He had problem painting houses. This one is deconstructed –
And here is a house within a house –
And a house with clouds –
Another phase was paintings that appeared to be petrified –
This is Blaise Pascal’s coat –
Two girls walking in Paris –
Another petrified image –
Here a chook has just laid a fresh egg and contemplates the quite inanimate hard boiled egg –
A telescoped nude –
Animate feet within inanimate shoes –
I was quite a thought provoking exhibition. Leaving the exhibition you had to pass through a merch section with books, postcards etc. I was disappointed that here were none of the distinctive pipes for sale.