The Lovers 1928

René Magritte made *The Lovers* with oil on canvas, and what strikes me is its eerie stillness. I can imagine him layering thin glazes, searching for that perfect, unsettling balance between clarity and mystery. Those shrouded figures pressing in for a kiss—it's a gesture of intimacy, sure, but what does it mean to be so close and yet so blindfolded? Is it about the secrets we keep, or the things we can't see even when we're face to face? The fabric drapes and folds, obscuring the very features that would define these figures as individuals. The landscape in the background is a backdrop, a stage. Magritte messes with our heads, but gently. He asks, what if love isn’t what we think? And with its calm colours, this painting has so much to say to other paintings about how mystery is the best tool in the box.