Travail préparatoire pour une gouache inachevée c. 1967

René Magritte made this watercolour, Travail préparatoire pour une gouache inachevée, as a preparatory study, a kind of warm-up for a larger project. The surface is awash in thin layers of transparent paint. The pink and blue hues blend seamlessly, creating a dreamy, ethereal atmosphere. See how the strokes of color bleed into one another, almost like a watercolor sunset you might see on a hazy day? Focus on the horizon line where the colors blur. It reminds me of Gerhard Richter’s blurred paintings, where the act of painting becomes a meditation on perception itself. Like Richter, Magritte transforms a traditional landscape into something more mysterious and ambiguous. It is this shared interest in ambiguity that allows both artists to encourage us to question the nature of reality and representation.