High Society 1962

René Magritte made this painting, ‘High Society,’ using oil on canvas. Magritte's brushwork is so smooth, so seemingly effortless, it's like he's not painting at all, but conjuring. Look at the sky-man, filled with puffy clouds and ocean—it’s like a window. But then, there’s this leafy shadow-man beside him. The materiality is so precise, creating this incredible sense of flatness and depth at the same time. The juxtaposition is the drama! Those leaves, they are each so carefully considered. Like each one is a tiny portrait. Each of those brushstrokes adds up to an alternate reality, a question mark of the human condition. Magritte always reminds me a bit of de Chirico, both playing with unsettling juxtapositions. But with Magritte, there’s a wry humor, a kind of visual poetry that keeps you guessing, always inviting you to question what you see.