Rene Magritte is born November 21, 1898. He was a Belgian surrealist and became well known for a number of witty and thought-provoking images. He painted his first solo exhibition, in 1927, The Menaced Assassin is one of his largest and most theatrical composition.
In the artwork of The Menaced Assassin, there is a naked body of a women lies on a couch, and blood trickling from her mouth. A well-dressed man who is wearing suit, standing in front of a table. His coat and hat on a chair and his bag adjoining. It seems like he is ready to leave, but he is delay by the sound of music. He stands in front of the table and listens to a gramophone. In the meanwhile, there are two men who just look like twins standing behind two sides of foyer. The one stands on left is holding a club, the one stands on right is holding a net. It seems like they are planning to ambush him. Then behind him, there are three heads of men and they look like triplets. They watch from over the balcony and witness what’s happening inside the room.
As I assume, the dead woman may be the lover or wife of the well- dressed man and he properly is the one who kills the women and after the killing he decides to leave. The two men who just look like the twins properly are the agents of the law, they try to arrest him. The triplet will be the witnesses of the all frame. There is a weird thing that triplet and the twins are just look alike.
The artwork of The Menaced Assassin will be considered as surrealism which is a part of Modernism. It is the recreation of an imaginary crime scene, which is a perfect combination of cruelty and pleasure, love and death. It is a way the artist visually narrates a love- tragedy.
I chose this artwork because it caught me right on the eyes. It is so different than the other artworks I have seen. It is bloody and mysterious. The naked corpse of the young women, a well-dressed man listening to a gramophone next to the corpse. Two homicide detective hiding in wait and three curious heads at an opened window. It is just like a scene of mysterious crime that waiting to be solved.
I am very interesting at this artwork, but the looks of the figures are weird. The men on the frame are just look alike. Does the artist done it on a purpose?
Work Cited
“Matteson Art.” Rene Magritte Biography -. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2016.
“Museum of Modern Art | MoMA.” The Museum of Modern Art. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2016.
Qian,
I love how strange this painting is. One important quality of the painting that your comments illustrate is the idea that the painting presents itself like a problem to be solved, and we inevitably spin out a narrative to try to explain what’s going on on the canvas. I realized that my own idea of what happened was quite different from yours. This doesn’t mean that I’m right and you’re wrong; it reminds us that we will each formulate our own story – perhaps guided by our own subconscious fears and desires! Like all the surrealists, Magritte is interested in the way that a painting can tap into our dreams or into the unconscious. I think that’s part of what’s happening here. You remarked that all the men in the painting look alike. That reminds me of the idea that when we dream, all the characters in our dream actually represent versions or aspects of ourselves!
This painting looks weird and make me feel terrified, but I have one quetion regarding this painting ,what are the twins holding in their hands and does it have any special meaning?
The man in the central looks clam. He checks the drawer. And the twins hold something in their hands. That sense scares me. I think the man in the central is killer. The twins are just helper.
I thought your analysis was very interesting. I really love Magritte and I found this painting fairly shocking because so rarely are his works so sexual and violent. I usually don’t think of Magritte work as a picture displaying a storyline because they are so often so nonsensical. However I think interpreting them as such, like you did, provides really interesting insight into what Magritte may have been intending. Surrealism is supposed to be capturing the subconscious and our dreams; So often our dreams do have storylines even if they are nonsensical. I think your interpretation has influenced the way I’ll look at Magritte’s or other surrealist painters in the future.