The clearing 1944

René Magritte made this painting, "The Clearing," with oil on canvas, and it’s full of surprises. The paint is applied with a flurry of small brushstrokes, almost like confetti, creating a lively, textured surface. I love how Magritte’s use of color feels both dreamlike and deliberate. He doesn't blend the colors to create volume, but instead keeps them distinct and separate, like a mosaic, or a field of static on an old TV. Those yellows and greens create a strange, uncanny light, like the sun is somehow not quite right. Look at the way the birds morph into leaves, or vice versa. There’s something about this merging of forms that makes you question the very nature of reality. Magritte reminds me a bit of Giorgio de Chirico. Both artists used a flat almost naive approach, while tapping into the subconscious. They knew that art doesn’t need to make sense, it just needs to make you feel something. Isn't that freeing?