René François Ghislain Magritte (November 21, 1898 – August 15, 1967) was a surrealist artist of Belgian origin. Little is known about Magritte's early life. In his paintings, he often played with the perception of an image and the fact that the painting of the image could never actually be the object. The full text of the article is here →, Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts (ARBA-ESA), Brussels, Belgium, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/René_Magritte, The treachery of images (This is not a pipe). He became a leading member of the movement, and remained in Paris for three years. In 1922, Magritte married Georgette Berger, whom he had met as a child in 1913. Often depicting ordinary objects in an unusual context, his work is known for challenging observers' preconditioned perceptions of reality. From 1916 to 1918, he studied at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, under Constant Montald, but found the instruction uninspiring. According to a legend, 13-year-old Magritte was present when her body was retrieved from the water, but recent research has discredited this story, which may have originated with the family nurse. Initially his paintings would be impressionist for several years before then developing in colour towards something more resembling fauvism. He became well known for creating a number of witty and thought-provoking images. He and his brother, Paul, formed an agency which earned him a living wage. A further string to his bow would be the reproduction of famous paintings by other artists, only with his own surrealist style mixed in on top. The Belgian's illustrative style continued throughout and although other related surrealists may have displiked him, his legacy remains strong today. The Menaced Assassin. Pipes and apples feature continuously throughout his surrealist period but the artist was always keen to underline how these life-like images were just that, and not the actual object itself. Magritte himself had earlier in his career made a living from selling reproductions and original works of others, just to keep his head above water. His lifestyle was particularly low key and unashamedly middle class, as represented by his trademark symbol of the bowler hat which continually returns throughout his oeuvre. Learn more » Paintings by René Magritte in Chronological Order Landscape, 1920 Portrait All Rights Reserved, The Pleasure Principle (Portrait of Edward James). The artist was famous for a number of witty and thought-provoking images. Distinguishable for his uncanny use of clouds, pipes, bowler hats, apples, and nudes, his paintings influenced subsequent generations of pop and conceptual artists …