L’IDÉE 

René Magritte painted L’IDÉE using oil on canvas, a traditional fine art medium lending itself to the painting's smooth surfaces. At first glance, this is a painting of a businessman with a green apple where his head should be, but it is also a painting *about* painting. The apple has been rendered with careful attention to the way light plays across its surface, making it seem three-dimensional. In contrast, the suit appears flat, and the tie is a solid block of pink, without shadows or highlights. Magritte’s focus on the interplay of illusion and reality is a recurring theme in his work, achieved through the skilled application of paint. The precision of the oil paint and the flat rendering style seem to mimic the world of commerce and industry. It is as though Magritte is making a point about the way that capitalism can flatten human experience. The painting prompts us to consider the amount of labor involved in producing commodities, including art. Magritte challenges our assumptions about the relationship between art and life, inviting us to question what we see and how we see it.