René Magritte

René Magritte: Beyond painting offers a rethinking of Magritte’s art from a position informed by contemporary developments in art theory.

The book employs a wide range of literary and philosophical/cultural theoretical frameworks to analyse Magritte’s art. It offers close readings of specific images, paying attention to neglected aspects of Magritte’s work, discussing the significance of cabinets of curiosities and encyclopaedias, trompe l’oeil, framing and forgeries. It addresses a range of intertextual relations between Magritte’s work and that of other Surrealist artists and the art-historical tradition.

This book explores how Magritte’s art challenges conventional notions of originality, canonicity and coherence, revealing his work as being shaped by co-operations and co-options. It demonstrates that uncertainty, incoherence and negation lie at the core of Magritte’s oeuvre.