Collage 1966

This René Magritte collage, probably made sometime in the mid-20th century, uses a mix of found images and simple mark making to create a feeling of disquiet. The marks are gentle, almost timid, but the overall effect is so strange, like a theatre set that's been invaded by a dream. Look at the hand. It's this vibrant yellow, drawn with such deliberate, cross-hatched lines that give it a solid, almost weighty presence. Then there's the floating face, serene and detached, juxtaposed against the flat redness of the curtain. These elements sit together, each asserting its own space, yet refusing to quite make sense as a whole. Magritte always struck me as being a bit like Giorgio de Chirico, another surrealist who embraced the uncanny. Both were interested in how the unexpected juxtaposition of objects and figures could suggest new forms of seeing, thinking and experiencing the world. It’s this interest in the power of ambiguity which really makes these works so enduring.