Modernism in Visual Art

Rene Magritte was a Belgian surrealist artist whose imagery has inspired pop, minimalist, and conceptual art. He was born on November 21, 1898 and died on August 15, 1967. Throughout his career he was well known for “depicting ordinary objects in an unusual context, his work is known for challenging observers’ preconditioned perception of reality.” The work I selected of his is called The Menaced Assassin shows a woman who was murdered in her home and detectives looking around for clues for the possible suspect. One of the men in the painting is observing the record player in the deceased woman’s room. Furthermore, the dead woman is lying naked on a couch. There are also two men outside the room; one who is holding some kind of weapon and another who is holding a net. The window displays a beautiful scenery filled with blue, gray, and white colors and three men looking into the scene of the crime. 

This work reflects the aesthetic preferences associated with Modernism because it expresses a characteristic of modernism which is surrealism. The painting exhibits the essence of surrealism by having a dreamlike surrounding like the landscape  and Magritte uses his common tactic of juxtaposing those surroundings with “erotic explicit objects” like the dead naked woman. Another characteristic of this painting that relates to modernism is the symbolism that Magritte portrays. I think that the woman lying naked shows vulnerability and depicts the woman as no longer human. The three men watching showcases the spectators of the crime scene but I also think it could mean the audience watching the film that the painting is based on. The film is called The Murderous Corpse and it aligns well with the concept of this painting. Furthermore, there is a record player in the deceased woman’s room and I think this symbolizes how music kept her company as she was most likely a lonely woman. 

I encountered this work as I was passing by different paintings and it immediately drew my attention because of the bold content and the shapes that are found in this painting. There are a lot of symmetric lines with the way the room is designed and it makes the painting very pleasing to the eyes. Additionally, there are a lot of muted colors so the brighter colors like the red in the couch and the gold in the record player stand out. Ultimately, a question I have about the work is if the detective standing outside to the left is the murderer? In my opinion, he seems like a possible suspect. 

Works Cited: 

René Magritte: Moma. The Museum of Modern Art. (n.d.). Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://www.moma.org/artists/3692 

Surrealism. Metmuseum.org. (n.d.). Retrieved December 5, 2022, from https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/surr/hd_surr.htm