After visiting the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the work that I decided to analyze is called, “The Lovers” painted by Rene Magritte in 1928. Magritte was born in late 19th century and after finishing his career as a graphic artist, in 1920s, he launched his successful career as a Surrealist painter. His paintings are famous for depicting strange scenes that question human nature and representation of reality. Magritte often incorporates everyday objects such as apples and hats, with figures of humans who are placed into these unusual scenes.
In “The Lovers,” Rene Magritte painted a close up kissing scene of two lovers, each of whose faces is covered in cloth. Behind the lovers, there is a blueish background and a hint of a brown wall on the right side, which ads on to the feeling of mystery to the painting. As to the context of this painting, I read on MoMA’s website that when Magritte was fourteen, his mother “committed suicide by drowning” and he witnessed how her face was covered in the fabric of her gown as her body was taken from the water. This experience may have somehow influenced the painter to use a face covered in cloth as a symbol in his work.
“The Lovers” reflects the aesthetic preferences associated with Modernism because it falls into the genre of Surrealism and depicts an imaginary situation with a mysterious and unnatural depiction of a couple in a relationship. Although the lovers are kissing, it is unclear whether they truly love each other because they cannot see each other’s true identities. This ties to the Modernist movement’s theme of alienation, skepticism, and the stream of consciousness. “The Lovers” depicts how people can be intimate with others yet still be alienated from each other. It also shows that people can have a subjective perspective of their relationship in which they are skeptical or unsure of each other’s feelings.
What drew my attention to this painting is how contradictory this painting seems compared to typical depictions of lovers as well as how differently this painting can be interpreted. On one hand, this art shows the dark side of a relationship where two people are hiding something from each other despite of their intimacy. This can be tied to the phrase “so close yet so far” because both people are physically close, yet consciously or subconsciously very far from each other. On the other hand, when I look at this painting, I also think of the phrase, “love is blind,” which means that people oftentimes choose not to see each other’s flaws when they are in love.
The question that I have about the work is: was Magritte inspired to cover the faces of the lovers with fabric because it somehow ties to his mother’s death? Or is this unrelated and his surrealistic painting was a depiction of the conflict he observed (or experienced) in love relationships?
Source:
MoMa’s website: https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/rene-magritte-the-lovers-le-perreux-sur-marne-1928/
Anastasiya,
You’ve done a really excellent job of describing and analyzing this painting by Magritte. I think you are absolutely correct to think about what the image might be suggesting about the relationship between the lovers and the way the scene combines intimacy with alienation. The fact that someone suggested that there could be a connection between this image and Magritte’s mother’s death does not obligate you to accept that suggestion, even when it appears on the museum’s website!
JS