Magritte: The Mystery of The Ordinary

Let’s get surreal.

That is what the Art Institute of Chicago suggested we do, as we appreciate the works of surrealism. Particularly those of Magritte.

Yesterday, my mother, a dear friend, and I went through the exhibit which included well known paintings such as the locomotive coming through the fireplace:

The Art Institute reminds us about his purpose with this: “Seeking to make “everyday objects shriek aloud,” or make the familiar unfamiliar, Belgian artist René Magritte created some of the 20th century’s most extraordinary—and indelible—images.”

I laugh when I see his painting with the caption, “Ceci n’est pas une pipe.” Because it isn’t! Can you really smoke that thing?

But perhaps most interesting of all (to us readers) is the collection of books the Art Institute put in the shop to accompany this special exhibit on surrealism.

The Healing Trumpet by Leona Carrington

Impressions of Africa by Raymond Roussel

The City and The City by China Mieville

Selected Poems by Rene Char

 

Little, Big by John Crowley

The Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Shulz

Selected Stories by Robert Walser

Memories of the Future by Sigizmund Krzhizhanovskii

Memories of My Nervous Illness by Daniel Paul Schreber     

 

 

Nadja by Andre Breton

Locus Solus by Raymond Roussel

The Melancholy of Resistance by Laslo Krasznahorkai

 

The only one I own is John Crowley’s Little, Big. But, I surely want to become familiar with the other titles.