What is "The Big Family"?
This is a masterpiece by Belgian artist René Magritte, which can be found in art textbooks.
It is a strangely memorable painting in which a blue sky is depicted in the silhouette of a large bird against the background of the sea.
The artist, René Magritte, was a central figure in the Surrealist art movement in France and other countries in the 19th century.
The following article on the painter René Magritte is also recommended.
Origin of the title
A mysterious title given to a surreal painting. What do they represent?
In fact, Magritte himself left us a word when he gave titles to his works.
The relationship that the title has to the painted object is the same as the relationship between the painted objects. The relationship that the title has to the painted object is the same as the relationship that the painted objects have to each other. The title is associated with the images in the work according to the same sequence.
At first glance, the painting, called "The Big Family," does not seem to have any family motifs.
However, Magritte was consciously trying to create a difference between the "words" and the "content of the words. By using words as titles that are distant from the painted objects themselves, he encourages the viewer to think about the "meaning" of the work in an imaginative way.
Magritte, who was also well versed in poetry, can be said to have brought a fascinating mystery to us by combining a surreal painting with a poetic title, not only the painting itself, but also the title.
Perhaps the silhouetted bird symbolizes peace, an expression of love and solidarity among family members. Or it may have another meaning.
The fact that the work suggests the possibility of various readings is the greatest appeal of Magritte's work.
The Surrealist Method
In the Surrealist art movement represented by Magritte, seemingly unrelated motifs are often combined and painted together, and strange titles are often given to paintings, such as "The Big Family" in this exhibition.
This is a characteristic that has been given the name " Elective Affinities," to quote Magritte himself.
Selective Affinities has a meaning similar to the Japanese word "associative" rather than "similar. Magritte says that when he saw a big sky, he simultaneously associated it with a bird, and vice versa, and when he saw a bird, he immediately associated it with the big sky. By consciously utilizing this kind of instantaneous image connection in his paintings, it is possible to conceive of strange combinations that have never been seen before.
Selective affinity is quite similar to the concept of "paranoid = critical method" proposed by another leading surrealist painter, Salvador Dali.
In Dali's case, we see a chain of images more directly tied to his own perverse sexual perceptions and desires.
For a deeper understanding of Dali's paintings, please also read this article.
Meeting "The Big Family" at a museum in Japan!
Actually, you can go see "The Big Family" at a museum in Japan.
The Utsunomiya Museum of Art in Utsunomiya City purchased it for $6 million (about 650 million yen at that time) in 1996 when it was being prepared for opening, and it has been on permanent display at the museum ever since.
The Utsunomiya Museum of Art also has other valuable collections including historical European painters such as Wassily Kandinsky, Raoul Dufy, and Kishida Ryusei, as well as Japanese Western-style painters of the Meiji period.
For more information, please visit the official website.
Encounter Surrealism at TRiCERA ART
Our TRiCERA ART features over 70,000 works by more than 8,000 artists from around the world.
Among them, there are many works that can be called Surrealism, which was strongly influenced by Magritte. In this article, we would like to introduce three of the most popular Surrealist artists at TRiCERA ART to the readers of this article.
Through his series "HUMAN NATURE," ReiNarDus, who creates portraits, extracts a strong inner life from old 20th century landscapes and still-life paintings, and by painting over the external world of silhouettes on the canvas, he makes the human inner life appear like a radiographic photograph.
The surrealistic oil painting technique is truly a style strongly influenced by Magritte.
HUMAN NATURE consoulation 055
W 60.00cm x H 50.00cm / ¥114,600
Nadine Franklin, from the U.S., creates collage-like compositions of images inspired by her daily life. She comically and delicately depicts figures surrounded by motifs such as clouds, mountains, temples, shrines, and other architectural structures, and halo.
By incorporating printed matter such as receipts, tickets, maps, and postcards into his work, he brings a contemporary sensibility to his art.
Winter Moon
W 38.00cm x H 45.00cm / ¥67,400
Yaroslav Kurbanov, who creates a world view using realistic techniques, has developed his own line of work while following the trend of surrealism.
Supported by a solid technique, he maximizes the appeal of the subtle facial expressions of the figures and the mysterious compositions in which "something" is missing.
Secrets of old courtyards
W 70.00cm x H 78.00cm / ¥485,400
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