Renee Magritte (1889-1967)

  
Renee Magritte was born in Lessines, Belgium on November 21, 1889. In 1912 his mother committed suicide by drowning herself, an episode that affected Magritte's life dramatically. He worked as a graphic artist after attending art school on and off, and produced his first surrealist work in 1926, "Le Jockey Perdu." He had his first one man show in Brussels in 1927 and although that show was not well recieved, he would go on to become one of the most influential artists of his time and his influence continues today.
As an artist, Magritte is considered a surrealist, although his style was more in line with magic realism. This was because he was not so much concerned with dreams as he was with thought processes, although he was very much interested in the subconscious and unconscious desires. His style is noted for crisp lines and realistic representation of ordinary objects juxtaposed in interesting ways. He was interested in the contradictions of existence, day and night, reality and representation. As he himself said, "The creation of new objects, the transformation of known objects, the change of matter for certain other objects, the association of words with images, the putting to work of ideas suggested by friends, the utilization of certain scenes from half-waking of dream states - all were means employed with a view to establishing contact between consciousness and the external world."