The voice of space 1928

René Magritte made 'The Voice of Space' with oil on canvas – and what a voice it has. The painting is an enigma. It is like a stage where unexpected things occur. Look at the spheres floating mysteriously against a radiant blue sky. I think that Magritte starts with an idea, but then the painting takes over. It begins to talk back to him. The surface of the sphere has light falling on it in an unusual way. You can almost feel the texture, it is like a memory of a touch. Magritte has a very particular way of looking at things. He is often described as a Surrealist, and for sure he plays with the unexpected. But his painting is also very precise, and very grounded in the physical world. When I look at this painting, I think of the work of other surrealist artists, like Giorgio de Chirico, but also of earlier painters such as Caspar David Friedrich. It is as if Magritte is in conversation with the entire history of painting.