About Magritte - Mini Statue - Souvenir de Voyage (1961)
The apple with a mask is featured in many Magritte paintings. Magritte was a pure conceptual artist free from all cultural, historical, religious or national associations. In "Souvenir de Voyage", a masked apple with no eye stares at us, from a deserted beach. It "an unsettling image, one that does not straightforwardly mean" anything. I want to create a mystery, not to solve it" said the artist.
René Magritte was one of the most famous surrealist painters of all time. His ability to challenge perception inspired many artists to come, such as Andy Warhol, Jan Verdoodt and Jasper Johns. Furthermore, his idiosyncratic vision of Surrealism has won over the hearts and minds of millions.
He worked across various media including painting, printmaking, sculpting, photography, and film. His depiction of normal, everyday objects rearranged in an unusual way allowed his viewers to take a deeper look at what was in front of them and realize what the image truly represented.
One of his most well-known pieces, The Treachery of Images exemplifies his ability to give new meanings to objects. It is an image of a pipe, and beneath it, a message that reads, “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” (“This is not a pipe”).
This ability to make the mundane strange and the known unknown has solidified Magritte’s talents in the art world. Eventually, it has profoundly affected the Conceptualist and Pop Art movements, to this very day.
