René Magritte, Belgian painter, printmaker, sculptor, sculptor, photographer and filmmaker, is an eminent figure in the history of 20th century art, associated with the metaphysical and surrealist movement.

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He joined the Beaux-Arts in Brussels at the end of the 1910s, a period during which he explored impressionism while discovering cubism and futurism. In the 1930s, he moved to France, where he played an active role in the emergence of surrealism, made decisive encounters, produced illustrations for magazines, and published his own writings. In the Dada spirit, he is distinguished by the mocking humor of his works.

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Unlike his surrealist accomplices, including Salvador Dalí and André Breton, Magritte remains resistant to the introduction of psychoanalysis into his art. He seeks more the difficult coincidence between the reality of the world and our mental images. When asked what he is trying to express in his works, he answers: “nothing but what you see yourself.” The last years of his life were dedicated to travel and fresco painting.

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The first retrospective devoted to his work was organized by the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels in 1954. The René Magritte Museum has been located since 1999 in the house where he lived for a time on rue Esseghem in Brussels. The Magritte Museum was inaugurated in 2009 in the same city.