René Magritte’s exhibition titled “The Mystery of the Ordinary” at MoMA was my favorite exhibition of the semester. I’m really intrigued by surrealist painters and their visions. Salvador Dali was one of Magritte’s largest inspiration and this is see in the artwork. The Menaced Assassin shares a common characteristic of Dali’s paintings, which is the melting affect. The dead body on the read sofa, the black jacket on the chair, the spine of the chair, and elongated legs of the man next to the music player all look like they are very heavy and are being pulled down by something unseen.
The Menaced Assassin
My favorite painting in the exhibition was The Lovers. A man and a woman are exchanging a romantic kiss but with white cloth over their heads. This painting reminds me of a forbidden love that has been exposed. I interpreted the painting like this: Maybe these two lovers were being unfaithful or maybe these two lovers couldn’t be together because of their families. Whatever the reason, they weren’t supposed to be together. Someone exposed them and the white clothes remind me of what is put in people’s heads before they are hung. The man and the woman will be killed because of their forbidden love. Even though death awaits them, their love doesn’t stop. They are sharing a kiss as intimate as it would be without a cloth dividing them.
The Lovers
Another interesting paint was Not to be Reproduced with featured a man looking into a mirror. The mirror give a reflection of the back of his head instead of the front of his head, which is what is supposed to be seen. The mirror gives the proper reflection for the green book in the right corner because the text appears backwards. For some reason this man doesn’t have a face or maybe he just doesn’t want it seen. After all, the title is Not to Be Reproduced for a reason.
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Not to Be Reproduced
UPDATE: Beyonce’s video for “Mine” has scenes with lovers coverings their heads with white cloth, like in “The Lovers”. Link for video below.
http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/videos/id.15063/title.beyonce-f-drake-mine-
I saw a million ads for this exhibit on the subway, and I was hoping to get a chance to see it when we went to the MOMA. I didn’t det the chance, so thanks for posting!
Glad you liked the post! You should try to go see it during break. It relates a lot to the “Ways of Seeing” book because it’s all about perception… how you perceive things and the artwork challenges you to think deeper. The cover of the book is actually a picture in this exhibit.