The Murderous Sky (Le ciel meurtrier) 1927

René Magritte made "The Murderous Sky" with paper collage and brush and ink, imagine him shifting and emerging through trial, error, and intuition! I sympathize with René because painting with monochrome is hard. There's nowhere to hide, so you have to be bold and certain, but painting, for me, is never about being completely certain. It's a process of questioning. See how the birds are collaged from musical scores, like a symphony trying to take flight! Magritte's in dialogue with other surrealists such as Max Ernst, who used collage in unexpected ways to create dreamlike imagery. The birds, trapped in an inky void, remind me of dreams where everything’s a bit off-kilter. It embraces ambiguity, allowing for multiple interpretations. Maybe it's a comment on the fragility of beauty, or perhaps a darker reflection on lost harmony.