The Treason of Images: Magritte at the Centre Pompidou Paris

Event Description

This new look at Magritte’s work reinterprets the five constant references in his images:  fire, shadows, curtains, words, and the fragmented body. Once asked about why we see so many curtains in his work, he said, “We are surrounded by curtains. Everything we see hides another thing. We always want to see what is hidden by what we see.”

René Magritte was preoccupied with likeness and the relationship of the likeness with the ‘thing’ it represents, as in the painting of a pipe with the famous legend “this is not a pipe”, which he called the Treason of Images. The exhibition reveals the artist’s thinking on questions of appearance and realism, and highlights his works dealing with the deceptive representations of the world.

With more than 100 of Magritte’s pieces, together with antique images, illustrating mythological or biblical narratives, this major event nudges us to take a closer look and question what we see.

As seen in France Today magazine