The art of conversation 1950

This is René Magritte's "The Art of Conversation," dimensions 50 x 65 cm. Look at the colour palette – a kind of infinite grey-blue, which feels almost like a dream! The scene is like something you half-remember: a giant, stonelike inscription, standing like some bizarre Stonehenge in a grassy field. I bet Magritte had a ball making this, letting his mind wander, seeing where the painting would take him. I love how the stones spell out “Rêve”, which is the French word for 'dream'. It’s like he’s inviting us to step into a world where language and landscape blend into each other. He’s really asking the question, what are we actually talking about, when we think we’re having a conversation? Magritte's style is really his own, but you see echoes of other painters playing with the same ideas. This is what painting is all about – an ongoing chat across time, where artists keep riffing off each other, inspiring new ways of seeing the world. Painting embraces uncertainty, leaving space for infinite meanings.