Alice in Wonderland 1945

René Magritte conjured this image in paint with delicate, smooth strokes, making a dreamscape where the unexpected is commonplace. I imagine Magritte might have chuckled to himself while painting, thinking, "What if a tree had a human face, and a pear had hands?" It’s like he's pulling a prank on our sense of reality. The details are so precise, from the bark of the tree to the dreamy gaze in the eye peeking through the leaves. The brushstrokes are soft, with a playful exchange between natural and constructed elements. The color palette is muted; like a hazy memory. The way the pear floats in the sky, cradled by its own hands, is pure Magritte! It's as if he's saying, "Why not?" Magritte’s world is in conversation with other artists across time, like de Chirico, who understood that painting is a form of embodied expression. The result is pure ambiguous expression, allowing for multiple interpretations and meanings.