The Postcard 1960

Curator: Here we have René Magritte’s “The Postcard,” created in 1960. He used oil paint to depict this rather uncanny scene. Editor: My immediate reaction is one of quiet tension. The oversized apple dominates the frame, lending a looming quality to the relatively small human figure. The palette feels cool, almost subdued, contributing to a somewhat anxious atmosphere. Curator: Apples recur in Magritte’s iconography. One wonders, given the date, if this one is an explicit reference to the iconic imagery of Apple Records? Or does it point to some earlier symbolism from European painting? One thinks of Cezanne's own obsessions... Editor: Interesting idea. I wonder about the apple's smooth surface; what kind of industrial processes helped give oil paint that texture and hue in 1960? Were there specific pigment innovations coming to market then that might shed light on why the color looks that way, or what kind of cost it represented to get a consistent wash of such colour? Curator: The apple undoubtedly refers back to our collective cultural memory, and is rooted in Christian visual traditions where it almost inevitably recalls original sin. He may even have been wryly referencing some form of self-knowledge here! The setting itself evokes an emotional chill. Editor: Exactly! That brick parapet, for instance. It is as if some brutal, post-war material conditions bled into his paintings. The wall looks hastily assembled, possibly made of recycled materials. Magritte, in that case, turns this painting into social commentary! Curator: It seems equally plausible that Magritte's focus remains on psychological suggestion—this interplay of the mundane, the monumental, and a sense of isolated contemplation—speaks volumes about the anxieties simmering beneath the surface of modern life. Editor: And for that anxiety, what kind of labour or skill did it require for him to manufacture those particular brushstrokes that really trigger a deep kind of malaise? Fascinating, nonetheless. Curator: Indeed, an object ripe for multiple interpretations. I always see the apple as both symbol of temptation and, perhaps more subversively, the weight of inherited ideas pressing down upon the individual. Editor: And me, now that I think of it, a material product as well! Thank you.