Le Sens Propre 1925

René Magritte made this painting, "Le Sens Propre," with oil on canvas. It depicts an ordinary interior: a wood-paneled wall, a floor. But then there's the floating iron, a domestic object decorated with a fanciful design. You can see the careful brushwork. Magritte was meticulous, rendering the wood grain with incredible detail. I imagine him, brush in hand, trying to reconcile the mundane with the unexpected. What does it mean to bring an object out of its habitual context? It feels like the iron, a symbol of domesticity and labor, has been liberated. I think of other surrealists and how they messed with our perceptions of reality. Magritte’s play with scale and context challenges us to see the world anew. In his painting, the everyday becomes extraordinary.