Le Principe du plaisir 1937

Here we have René Magritte's surreal painting, "Le Principe du plaisir", which I imagine was crafted with layers of oil paint, building up a smooth yet unsettling surface. Look at how the light radiates from where the head should be; it’s like a burst of pure, unadulterated thought, or maybe the absence of it. The suit is so formally rendered, and yet, it’s paired with this blinding light. The contrast is amazing, right? The texture of the light is soft, almost cloud-like, achieved with delicate brushwork, which is so different from the crisp lines of the suit. It creates this weird tension between the concrete and the ephemeral, the known and the unknown. Magritte reminds me a little of de Chirico; both were mining the depths of the uncanny, creating scenarios that feel just slightly off, prompting us to question what we think we know about the world.