The cultivation of Ideas 1927

René Magritte made this painting using oil paint on canvas, though when isn’t clear. Looking at ‘The Cultivation of Ideas’, I’m struck by the odd flatness of everything, like a stage set that’s been painted rather than built. The green is so consistent across the trees, giving them a kind of unity, a sense of holding something back from us. I find my eye drawn to the dark, near-black tree trunks, these upright pillars that act like visual rhymes for the dark, starry shapes in the painting's wings, as if the cosmos and the earth are somehow mirroring one another. The paint is applied thinly, allowing the texture of the canvas to show through, which flattens the space and gives it an ethereal quality. Magritte reminds me a little of de Chirico, in that he had the gift of making dreamscapes feel real, even when they are totally irrational. His paintings leave you with questions more than answers, inviting you to interpret what’s in front of you.