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The Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum hosts the first retrospective to be held in Madrid on the surrealist painter, René Magritte (1898, Lessines, Belgium - 1967, Schaerbeek) since the event organised by the Juan March Foundation in 1989. Curated by Guillermo Solana, the museum’s artistic director, the exhibition will bring together around 70 works, including paintings and works on paper, along with a selection of photographs and films.

Since the idea of automating creative work came about, the painter, René Magritte, also fantasised with a catalogue of devices designed to automate thought and creation processes, which included a universal machine to make paintings.  Now, the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum will reveal the functioning of this imaginary machine in this exhibition.

Known for his ingenious and provocative images, the Belgian surrealist painter used his work to try and change the preconditioned perception of reality and force the observer to become hypersensitive to his/her surroundings.

This retrospective will be organised into six chapters, corresponding to the repertoire of interconnected devices that make up the “Magritte Machine”: the museum, as an instruments that catalogues and exhibits; the silhouette, as a device that cuts and fills; the window, which frames and covers; the mechanism that alters the size and weight; the mimicry, that enables camouflage within the environment, and the mask, that removes and projects the face. 

Image Credit:

René Magritte. La Clef des champs, 1936. Oil on Canvas. 80 x 60 cm © VEGAP, Madrid