Le regard intérieur 1942

René Magritte created ‘Le regard intérieur’ using oil paint on canvas, a well-established approach within fine art traditions. The smoothness of the finished surface belies the labor and meticulousness required to complete the piece. Magritte would have prepared the canvas with gesso, carefully building up layers of paint to achieve the illusionistic effects you see here. Note how the paint mimics the texture of a giant leaf, complete with its intricate network of veins. Consider, too, the labor involved in producing the materials themselves: from the harvesting of flax for linen canvas, to the grinding of pigments. By employing the craft of painting so convincingly, Magritte blurs boundaries between the natural and the artificial, between what is found, what is made, and what is consumed. Ultimately, Magritte encourages us to look beyond the image, to consider the very materiality of representation itself.