Wreckage of the shadow 1926

René Magritte made this painting, "Wreckage of the shadow," using oil on canvas, and wow, what a collection of softly rendered objects! Check out how he lets the paint do its thing, especially with the pale blues and greys that fade into each other. It's like he's inviting us to watch the paint dry, but in a dream. Look at the grid shape in the center of the painting, and the way Magritte creates these feathered, dreamlike objects using subtle gradations and soft edges. The textures are so smooth, almost like you could reach out and touch a cloud. What I find particularly fascinating is the bird form, impaled on a pole in the foreground; an incongruous yet evocative detail. Magritte is a bit like de Chirico, in the way he makes paintings like stage sets for the theater of the mind, yet he is very much his own man. His works revel in strangeness and mystery, and invite multiple interpretations, each as valid as the next.