One night museum 1927

René Magritte made "One Night Museum" without a specified date, using oil on canvas. The surface has a smooth finish, the brushwork is almost invisible, which is a clever trick, right? It's like he's hiding the process, making you focus on the images themselves. Each object sits in its own little box, a stage almost, and that apple, so round and real, but also kind of fake, like a prop. The bottom right box, with its cut-out shapes, is so strange. It's like a flattened version of the other objects, a pattern instead of a thing. It's about seeing and not seeing, about presence and absence. All together, it reminds me of the boxes of Joseph Cornell, with their curated oddities, but painted with a deadpan, surreal twist. Magritte’s playing a game, and he wants you to play along.