The staging post 1948

René Magritte painted "The Staging Post", sometime in the 20th century, probably with oil on canvas. The colors are so saturated, they almost vibrate. There's this amazing red tree – like a bolt of energy – right next to a decrepit building with "Ecole" scrawled on it, and a bright blue car pulling up. The paint application is thick and juicy, not trying to hide itself. Look at the background, a painted grid of yellow, blue and green. Everything’s sort of outlined, as if Magritte is saying, "Hey, this is paint, this is how I'm rendering the world." There is a tension in the painting; a sense of something not quite right in paradise. The sky has a slight green tinge like something is amiss. Magritte always played with these kinds of surreal juxtapositions, but here the crude application of the paint reminds me of the Fauves, or maybe even some German Expressionists. It's like he's turning his back on refinement. This is art that knows it's art, and isn’t afraid to show it.