Surrealist, Rene Magritte was born in Belgium in 1898. Although he enjoyed creating art for most of his life, he did not reach fame until his 50’s. He attended the Academie des Beaux-Art and later dropped out because he thought that it was not benefitting him in any way. Magritte went on to acquire many small jobs, painting for a wallpaper company and working on art during his free time. One of his first paintings called The Menaced Assassin, was exhibited in his first gallery in 1927. However, his gallery did not do as well as he had hoped. Magritte became depressed because of negative reviews from critics, and he decided to move to Paris. Like many great artists, he did not let this stop him. Magritte used Freud as an inspiration for art and eventually started receiving the credit that he deserved.
The Menaced Assassin, one of Rene Magritte’s first paintings that was shown in his gallery in 1927, is displayed at the Museum ofModern Art. This piece is famous for its mysterious nature. According to the label information, Magritte was inspired by a pre-World War I crime fiction series. For example, the detectives standing on each side of the door frame, are inspired by Le Mort qui tue or The Murderous Corpse (1913), which was a film that was created based on the series. Magritte’s goal was to create a mysterious or fantastical painting that could be open to interpretation by the viewer.
Surrealists were determined to go beyond what they saw in the outside world. Artists like Magritte wanted to capture what was hidden in our minds. Neurologist Sigmund Freud had a huge impact on artists during this time. He is the founder of Psychoanalysis which is his theory of having a subconscious, as we discussed in class. Other examples of topics which Freud studied would be violence and sexuality which are both being portrayed in The Menaced Assassin. We see that the woman lying dead on the chair is bleeding from her mouth, a violent aspect. Her corpse is also unclothed, an aspect that expresses sexuality and nakedness.
One of the reasons I decided to further analyze this painting is because I knew it would tell a story. It had a theatrical feel to it that I was initially interested in learning more about. It was also the first painting to capture my attention because of its large scale. The painting is much bigger than the other paintings in the room, which drew me into the painting, essentially feeling like I was a part of it. I think that The Menaced Assassin is a great example of Modernism because although the story behind the painting is unknown, the viewer is able to interpret it any way they’d like. Surrealism, along with other strands of Modernism is about expressing our thoughts and our imagination. This specific painting that I chose evokes a sense of horror and mystery. It makes the viewer question, what violent act occurred to result in the death of the woman? Who are the three men on the balcony? Or why isn’t the woman wearing clothes?
Sources:
https://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2013/11/21/magrittes-the-menaced-assassin-1927-treatment-and-research-2/
http://www.theartstory.org/movement-surrealism.htm
https://www.renemagritte.org
https://www.biography.com/people/sigmund-freud-9302400