The amorous perpective 1935

René Magritte made this oil on canvas, "The Amorous Perspective", sometime in the twentieth century. The precise brushwork in this painting gives it a meticulous, almost hyperreal quality. But of course, that just heightens the surreality. I imagine Magritte, brush in hand, carefully rendering each detail – the wood grain of the door, the delicate branches of the tree, the flat surface of the building, the light hitting each of these disparate forms. It must have been such a playful puzzle to compose. What's inside? What's outside? What is a thing? What is its representation? I’m struck by the way the outline of the tree sort of mirrors the irregular shape cut out of the door— a little formal rhyme between natural and constructed forms. Maybe Magritte is asking if there is really a difference? Painting at its best, and Magritte is definitely one of the best, prompts these questions. It invites us to look again, and to think anew.