Gagosian Gallery, London
With his clever conundrums, the Belgian loved satirising both psychoanalysis and surrealism – and occasionally painted rubbish to annoy his family. What a dude!
René Magritte is the most inexplicable of artists. It’s much harder to get a handle on him than such supposedly difficult modern greats as Cézanne or Picasso. After all, cubism is a perfectly rational attempt to capture the complexity of reality. But Magritte? He confronts you with wilful mysteries. This show sets choice examples of his magic against modern art and is full of quirky, unexpected treasures that give your wonder at Magritte little twists in new and perverse directions.
A painting of puffy white clouds held me across the gallery and still floats ineffably in my mind. It’s a shock because it is so painterly and subtle. If you think Magritte fashioned his surrealist images in a deliberately flat, even banal style, think again. This simple painting of clouds in the blue is full of supple shadow and ethereal light, a brilliantly observed view of nature in the vein of Gainsborough, Constable or Hockney.
