Discovery 1927

René Magritte painted this perplexing oil on canvas, called ‘Discovery’ at an unknown date. There’s a cool, subdued palette at play, which, combined with the strange and slightly unsettling subject matter, lends the piece a feeling of dreamlike detachment. It reminds me that artmaking, at its heart, is a process of unveiling and revealing. The texture of the paint is quite smooth, and the brushstrokes are fairly invisible, which contributes to the almost photographic realism, a hallmark of Magritte's style. Except, of course, for the surreal twist: the woman's flesh is patterned with tiger stripes, like she’s turning into a wild animal. Look at the way the stripes follow the contours of her form, particularly on her torso and face. It’s a bizarre fusion of human and animal, natural and artificial, and it really makes you think about the nature of identity. This work echoes other paintings by artists such as Max Ernst, where unexpected juxtapositions provoke questions about reality and perception. Like much great art, Magritte's 'Discovery' challenges us to see the world in new, unexpected ways.