Anne-Marie Crowet 1956

René Magritte made this portrait, Anne-Marie Crowet, with oil on canvas and from what I can see, he’s clearly working through the age-old problem of representation. Look how the light and shadow are used to create a face. What I mean is, see how Magritte's built up his image using tiny brushstrokes and a warm, earthy palette that gives the whole piece a kind of subtle, almost dreamlike quality. This isn’t about copying reality, it’s about constructing it. The red of the lips, though, really pops. Notice how the colour is so vibrant. It makes you think about the other colours, all toned down, how they play off against this one intense focal point. I love how Magritte’s playing with our perception. You might think about de Chirico, another surrealist, who used a similar kind of flat light to create a sense of unease in his cityscapes. It's all about questioning what we think we know, and that's what makes art so endlessly fascinating.