Courtesan's palace 1929

This is René Magritte's surreal painting 'Courtesan's Palace'. It's hard to put a date on it exactly, but he was working in Belgium in the middle of the 20th century. Magritte was very interested in the way we perceive the world. Here, he presents us with a framed image of a male torso. The wood-grain background is disrupted by the corner of a room to the right and a mysterious object on the left, whose purpose is unknown. Magritte emerged from a society recovering from war, and he witnessed a cultural and political shift. His art questions traditional values. The surrealists in Europe at this time used art as a way of questioning society. They challenged the normal state of things. To fully understand this work, we might look at his letters, or other writings from the period. What was the cultural status of the male body, and the courtesan at that time? Art reflects its world, but equally, helps to shape it.