Not to be Reproduced 1937

Rene Magritte made Not to be Reproduced with oil on canvas, and as a painter myself, I’m fascinated by how he plays with surfaces and expectations. The brushwork is so smooth it almost disappears, which is very different from my own process, but look closer. The way the light catches the hair, the subtle variations in the brown background – these details reveal a real sensitivity to the material. Magritte had control, creating a hyperreal image which on closer inspection is totally unreal! The title itself is a challenge and the painting is a conundrum. What does it mean that the mirror reflects back the back of the figure’s head, and what do we make of the book, seemingly titled ‘forbidden’? Magritte is playing with ideas of representation, and also with us. Like Duchamp he makes us question our assumptions of how art should work.