Force of habit 1960

René Magritte made "Force of Habit," whose date remains unknown, by using oil on canvas. Magritte challenges our perception of reality and the function of language. The painting shows a simple image of an apple, but the phrases written in the painting subvert the expected relationship between image and text. The apple appears to contain a bird inside of a prison. What does it mean for something to be what it is, when our senses and our intellect can be so easily misled? How can we use language to cage, or liberate? Magritte plays on the idea that representations are not the things themselves. In doing so, he invites us to reflect on how we use language to construct our understanding of the world. It suggests a deeper exploration of meaning, identity, and the unseen forces that shape our experiences.