Magritte Painting by Paul Meijering

Realistic acrylic painting of the Belgian surrealist painter Rene Magritte, painted by the Dutch fine artist Paul Meijering - the original painting is 90 x 90 cm and part of a permanent collection

René François Ghislain Magritte (Lessen, 21 November 1898 - Schaarbeek, 15 August 1967) was a Belgian surrealist painter.

When René Magritte was 13 years old in 1912, his mother was pulled dead from the river Sambre. She had committed suicide by throwing herself into the water with a cloth in front of her forehead. He refers to this tragedy several times in his work with illustrations of a woman whose face is covered. Magritte had two brothers: Raymond and Paul. In his youth, Magritte displayed sadistic behaviour towards animals. He starved a donkey and tormented cats and dogs.

From 1916 to 1921, Magritte was educated at the Brussels Academy. There, he took classes with Gisbert Combaz, Emile Vandamme-Sylva and Constant Montald.

In 1922, he married Georgette Berger. The marriage would remain childless.

After being introduced to the work of Giorgio de Chirico, in 1925, Magritte's work began to assimilate surrealist elements.Magritte mainly produced paintings (oil on canvas), but also gouaches, objects and collages.

During World War II, Magritte worked and stayed in Carcassonne, France. He forged art to earn a living. This mainly involved works by De Chirico, Picasso and Braque.
Magritte died in 1967 in Schaarbeek of pancreatic cancer, where he is also buried in the municipal cemetery.

In terms of style, most of Magritte's oeuvre belongs to surrealism, one of the major art movements of the 20th century.

Magritte's work, like that of Salvador Dali and Carel Willink, for instance, is very finely painted.