“The False Mirror”, or “Le Faux Miroir” is a surrealist painting by Belgian artist Rene Magritte (1898-1967) composed in 1928. Surrealism was a big 20th century artistic movement that emphasized the creativeness of the unconscious mind. The title of the painting, however, was a product of the mind of Belgian Surrealist writer Paul Nouge (moma.org). Born in Lessines (a province in Hainaut, Belgium), not much is known about Magritte’s childhood- there are many legends and myths concerning the context and inspiration for his work, however. For example, many of Magritte’s paintings, including one called “Les Amants”, is rumored to portray the lovers with cloth over their faces as a result of his finding his mother’s body with her dress covering her face after suicide by drowning (wikipedia.org).
“The False Mirror” portrays a lash-less eye with the usually white iris replaced by a blue, cloud filled sky, with a black pupil smacked dead in the center. According to the gallery label at MoMA, the title thought of by Nouge was chosen to imply a restriction on the eye: mirrors directly reflect the things on the other side–Nouge suggests that the eye is subjective and chooses what it sees. It also implies blurred vision. To me, the painting drew me in simply because I have a fascination with the eyes; I am one of those “the windows are the eyes to the soul” kind of people. Reading the label and being educated about what the intention behind the painting/title was, I was a bit pleased because while I did not hit the nail right on the head, my interpretation of the painting was along those lines. In essence, it was sort of the same. The way I took it was that as humans, we only see blue skies. Blue skies are often directly associated to good days; they serve as a form of relief and almost as a symbol of hope. Personally, I associate blue skies full of clouds with optimism, almost like an “things can only get better” kind of vibe, the same way that dark and stormy skies are associated to misery. I agreed with the message I received from the painting, only because as humans we choose to ignore the negatives and downsides of life–we tend to focus on the good, because ultimately all that we want from life is happiness.
The painting above relates to Modernism and the ideas associated to it because seeing as Modernists were very much interested in incoherence and the stream of consciousness, the visual is incredibly strange and portrays the way that one’s conscious functions– it focuses mainly on what we think, and not to what we do. Also, the implication of restriction of one’s vision and seeing only what evokes positive emotion and what is ultimately beneficial to us constitutes that cynicism that is so often underlying in the Modernist works, suggesting that we are motivated by and inclined to see only what is in our best interest.
I loved your interpretation of this and also how you saw the blue skies as a sense of optimism!
I really enjoy this painting especially that the eye is like and all seeing eye in the sky. It really hits me when I look at this painting something about it just strikes the eye. There are so many interpretations of this art piece which i think also makes it really special.
The art piece that I decided to look at was the “False Mirror” which I found in the Museum of Modern Art. The artist that painted the “False Mirror” was René Magritte, he was born in Belgium in 1898 and died in 1967. He attended art school in Brussels, his original job was working in commercial advertising to support himself as his backup plan while he tested his painting career. Rene Magritte got a reputation for his, “idiosyncratic approach to Surrealism”. Thanks to his commercial artist, producing advertising and book designs, it led to the shaping of his fine art style. Magritte was a part of a middle class family. His interest in art may have come in part from Freudian psychoanalysis but his work in commercial art may have also played a role in prompting him to question the conventional modernist belief in the unique. He began to paint in the 1920s which was a surrealist style and he was known, “for his witty and thought-provoking images and his use of simple graphics and everyday objects, giving new meanings to familiar things.” An example of this would be the “False Mirror”.
The “False Mirror” which may look like a painting an ordinary eye but inside the eye there is the sky. It is a painting that has moderate traits because the more one looks into it the more it makes simply traits appear more meaningful. The true meaning of the painting is to represent how we humans see the world. The Western Civilization 2 states, “The painting represents how humans view the world, it symbolizes their role in the world, it reflects on the study of biology and psychology, and it reveals self-awareness in the world. By looking into the eye and seeing the sky the painting can be interpreted to mean that the world is a product of a human’s imagination.” Also its symmetry was a big part of the modernist movement because unlike the time before like realism paints were made by the exact things are in the world. These modernist paintings were made more with imagination. Another thing that makes it modernist is that is not a real representation of an eye it has no eyelashes and it does not have much real human eye traits. It does represent humankind and the impact it has on the world and vice versa.
How I interpreted this painting when I first saw it reminded me about the picture that we look in class, “This is not a Pipe.” It had some similar characteristics for me it was plain and I knew that there was more meaning to the sky. What I thought first prior from reading the title and looking from a far was that it related to hope or looking into the heavens. After reading the name of the art piece it gave me a different point of view. The name “False Mirror” made it even more confusing for me. There were many paintings that I saw were too simple that made it complicated to understand. For instance, this red wall painting that I saw that I believe it also has to do with Modernism. This whole museum was filled with paintings that looked like anyone could have done them and I supposed that is where the beauty come from it.
Biography.com Editors. “René Magritte Biography.” A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 05 May 2016.
“The Modernist Movement.” Western Civilization Guides II, 07 Dec. 2013. Web. 06 May 2016.
Powers, Sophia. “Rene Magritte Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works.” The Art Story. The Art Story Contributors, n.d. Web. 06 May 2016.
Wow, I like this artwork and I like the way you interpreted this artwork. you interpreted as ” things will always be better” and hope, and I agree with you.
Karla and Raul, Did you two visit the museum together? It’s interesting that you selected the same work…. This is a compelling and very memorable example of Magritte’s work. I think both of you have pointed to interesting interpretations of the piece, and you both remind us of the important place of the unconscious in Surrealism. For me, the title holds the key to this work. It makes me ask what we see when we look in the mirror. (Raul, I think your comments address this too.) The image of the blue sky in the eye as a false mirror does seem to suggest that we have a false vision of ourselves and that part of that false vision is our tendency to either imagine ourselves at the center of the universe or, as this image seems to suggest, to imagine that we are so big and so important that we kind of contain the universe. Or that everything we imagine to be true or real is perhaps just a figment of our imaginations! Still, I liked your more optimistic interpretation, Karla! Nice work!
I think this painting is interesting in terms of the painting itself is a vision of a person while the artist wants people to see how other people’s perspective of the world. This makes us become more objective instead of subjective. As you indicated people want to see what they want to see, while this painting gives me a impression of how the artist want people to see what this person has seen without our own judgment.
It is interesting painting and i was very interesting to read your description. When I saw this painting I was curious about why the beautiful blue skies and clouds in the eye. I agree with you “Personally, I associate blue skies full of clouds with optimism, almost like an “things can only get better” kind of vibe, the same way that dark and stormy skies are associated to misery.”