In 1938, René Magritte gives a lecture at the KMSKA on his vision of reality. He discourses on the origins and development of his art, as well as the history of the surrealist movement in Belgium. Under the title La Ligne de vie (The Life Line), this lecture, the second after the one at the International Exhibition of Surrealism in London, was the most important Magritte ever gave on his work.
In the exhibition Magritte. The Life Line, the world-famous Surrealist acts as his own curator, as it were. Among other things, you will discover a selection of works that were also highlighted during the lecture. The exhibition also delves deeper into Magritte as a connecting figure between surrealism in Antwerp and Brussels. In this Antwerp connection we meet surrealists such as Marcel Mariën and Léo Dohmen.
“The Ladder of Fire gave me the privilege of experiencing what the first men felt who made fire by rubbing two stones together. In turn, I made fire from a sheet of paper, an egg and a key.”
- René Magritte, from his lecture La Ligne de vie.
It is no coincidence that this exhibition runs parallel to the one on Marthe Donas. Both exhibitions represent two different directions within modernism. And although Magritte also initially experiments with abstraction, he nevertheless rejects this kind of painting and chooses his own path. He wants to paint ideas.
Artists: Magritte
