Understanding Surrealism: Art Beyond Conventional Boundaries

In today’s generation, Surrealism isn’t looked at, to many, as works of art with valuable back stories. They are broadly judged by the complex drawings of imaginative objects of the artist’s subconscious because they don’t make sense to simple minded viewers. In the 1920’s, Surrealism was introduced to the world. The movement had a large amount of critics because of its unique techniques of making the viewer think outside of the box. What got Surrealism it’s more positive views was the era it blossomed. The *DADA time period, where art was released at every time of the day, expressing the artists’ harsh feelings of the war. Whether it was paintings, political cartoons, or graffiti.
A well-known Surrealist, Rene Magritte is famous for his

art that spoke for the time period. One in particular was titled, The Great War. Ironically, that’s not what the painting looked like. To those who are familiar with Rene Magritte’s work, it’s very similar to The Son of Man painting. (1964.) The oil on canvas piece is a portrait of a woman from her knees up, with her face covered by Hydrangeas. The setting is in front of a wall, overlooking a body of water. A white, long sleeve *Victorian dress is worn by the woman, accompanied by a rather large hat with assorted flowers and an embroidered umbrella.
Studying The Great War, and the era’s conflicts Rene Magritte lived through (WWI and WWII) it was clear what the meaning behind it all was. When studying artwork, one must ask themselves, “What was this painter feeling when the brush was stroking the canvas?” And what was concluded from it all was that, the woman portrays war. To more thoroughly support this claim, more analyzations and connections were made. For example, the fancy attire the woman is dressed in and her accessories. War, in all generations is an act that most believe should be praised, as in why taxes is paid for it, therefore, war is showered in decorative head pieces and parasols. War’s face is covered because the most significant of them all are ambiguous. Every side of politics can argue why a specific bloodshed act became.
But like every Surrealistic piece of artwork, come with different perceptions of the meaning behind it. So another impression that came across while analyzing The Great Wall was while reading some history on Rene Magritte. In 1912 he went through a great loss. His mother committed suicide by drowning herself in a local river. Rene Magritte was there when her body was found and it is said that “the head was shrouded in the white nightgown his mother was wearing at the time of her death.” (page 61.) In many of his paintings he covers his characters with either an object or white cloth like The Lovers, painted in 1928. So perhaps he had this vision engraved of his mother and couldn’t stop painting it in some type of way. And that’s the reason why it’s titled, The Great War. Because the memory of his mother must’ve been something he thought of everyday no matter how much he didn’t want to.
One of Rene Magritte’s goals was, as a Belgium artist, to be different then the French Surrealists like Andre Breton. Analyzing his artwork, it seems like one of his strategies was repetition and that’s where the mysteries of, “Why is the face covered?” becomes.
In conclusion, Surrealism isn’t just a canvas of random subconscious thoughts and imagination all blurred into something for fun. It’s a piece of art that makes you think, makes you question what an everyday item can actually mean to the artist. Rene Magritte’s oil on canvas work, The Great War, is a great example of this since different perceptions can be made of it. The meaning isn’t clear but contradictingly, the meanings are endless.