Le plagiat 1940

René Magritte, painted 'Le Plagiat' with oil on canvas, creating a conversation about what is real and what is represented. The layering of realities, from the foreground still life to the idyllic landscape, is achieved with smooth, almost invisible brushstrokes, which add to the surreal, dreamlike quality. The way the artist uses colour is so curious; a very specific, slightly muted palette makes everything feel like it exists in its own uncanny world. Look at the way the landscape is framed within the leaves and branches, it’s almost as if the vase is giving birth to its own world. Magritte wants us to question our assumptions about what we are seeing, and that's the constant conversation that artists have had for centuries. Think of De Chirico, another surrealist, playing with the same ideas of space, time and illusion. It’s not just about what things look like, but what they mean.