Artist Biography
Rene Magritte was born in Lessines, Belgium in 1898. While little information about his early life is available, it is known that his mother committed suicide in 1912 when Magritte was only 14. Four years later, Magritte began to attend the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels and his earliest paintings, Impressionistic in style, date to roughly this same period. Magritte left the Académie after about 2 years and began exploring Cubism and Futurism in his paintings. He married Georgette Berger, a childhood acquaintance, in 1922. Before receiving a contract from the Galerie Le Centaure in Brussels in 1926, which allowed Magritte to paint full time, he worked as a draftsman and created posters and advertisments.
His first Surrealist paintings and exhibition in 1927 was met with harsh criticism, which led the disappointed Magritte to move to Paris. It was in Paris that Magritte met Andre Breton, a founding member of the Surrealist movement. After Magritte's contract with the Galerie Le Centaure ended in 1929, he moved back to Brussels and began working in advertising again with his brother Paul. He held solo exhibitions in the US in 1936 and in London in 1938.
He remained in Belgium during the German occupation following the outbreak of World War II, which led to a falling out with his long time friend Breton and a marked change in his painting style. After the war, Magritte returned to his signature Surrealist style and remained in Brussels until his death of pancreatic cancer in 1967. His works The Son of Man and The Treachary of Images are widely considered to be key representations of the Surrealist movement.