Faraway looks 1927

René Magritte made this strange double portrait with oil on canvas. Look how smooth the paint is, almost like glass, and how the light just glides over the surface. I find myself thinking about how he must have carefully mixed each color to achieve that glossy finish. The woman’s face, split into two profiles, gives me a strange sensation. It's like seeing two moments in time at once. My eyes keep going back to the line dividing the profiles; it's so sharp and clean, but also unsettling. It reminds me of the way we try to split ourselves into different roles or identities. Magritte’s work always feels a little bit like a puzzle, doesn't it? Like Giorgio de Chirico, he invites us to question what we see. It's an invitation to think about how images can trick us, and how art can be both beautiful and deeply unsettling all at once.