Chorus of the sphinx 1964

René Magritte made this oil painting on canvas. It has all the cool understatement of the Surrealist scene. Imagine Magritte, brush in hand, playing with scale, creating this impossible juxtaposition of leaf and forest! It’s as if he’s daring us to question our perception of reality, you know? The giant leaf floating in the sky, echoing the forest below, is so simple, yet so unsettling. And the colors? The shades of green, the blue sky, the fluffy clouds. All carefully chosen, meticulously applied. I can imagine him standing back, squinting, making sure every detail is just right. Magritte’s not just painting what he sees; he’s painting what he thinks, what he dreams. He takes something familiar like a landscape, and makes it strange, makes it new. It’s this kind of playful experimentation that keeps painting alive, and reminds us that art is not about answers, but about questions.