Rene Magritte Quotes & Sayings

We are surrounded by curtains. We only perceive the world behind a curtain of semblance. At the same time, an object needs to be covered in order to be recognized at all. — Rene Magritte

Everything that is visible hides something that is invisible. — Rene Magritte

I do not like money, either for itself or for what it can buy, since I want nothing we know about. — Rene Magritte

An object never serves the same function as its image - or its name. — Rene Magritte

Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see, but it is impossible. Humans hide their secrets too well ... — Rene Magritte

Those who become entangled in these false ideas are prevented from perceiving the Integral Oneness. — Rene Magritte

A truly poetic canvas is an awakened dream. — Rene Magritte

The famous pipe. How people reproached me for it! And yet, could you stuff my pipe? No, it's just a representation, is it not? So if I had written on my picture "This is a pipe", I'd have been lying! — Rene Magritte

A thing which is present can be invisible, hidden by what it shows — Rene Magritte

I think we are responsible for the universe, but that doesn't mean we decide anything. — Rene Magritte

I need to see the original paintings just as little as I have to read the original manuscripts of books. — Rene Magritte

To be a surrealist means barring from your mind all remembrance of what you have seen, and being always on the lookout for what has never been. — Rene Magritte

If one looks at a thing with the intention of trying to discover what it means, one ends up no longer seeing the thing itself, but of thinking of the question that is raised. — Rene Magritte

Too often we tend to reduce what is strange to what is familiar. I intend to restore the familiar to the strange. — Rene Magritte

As regards the artists themselves, most of them gave up their freedom quite lightly, placing their art at the service of someone or something. As a rule, their concerns and their ambitions are those of any old careerist. I thus acquired a total distrust of art and artists, whether they were officially recognised or were endeavouring to become so, and I felt that I had nothing in common with this guild. I had a point of reference which held me elsewhere, namely that magic within art which I had encountered as a child. — Rene Magritte

The mind loves the unknown. It loves images whose meaning is unknown, since the meaning of the mind itself is unknown. — Rene Magritte

Everyday objects shriek aloud. — Rene Magritte

People who look for symbolic meaning fail to grasp the inherent poetry and mystery of the images. — Rene Magritte

An object is not so attached to its name that we cannot find another one that would suit it better. — Rene Magritte

Nothing is confused except the mind. — Rene Magritte

The purpose of art is mystery. — Rene Magritte

I have few illusions: the cause is lost in advance. As for me, I do my part, which is to drag a fairly drab existence to its conclusion. — Rene Magritte

My painting is visible images that conceal nothing ... they evoke mystery. Mystery means nothing. It is unknowable. — Rene Magritte

No object is stuck with its name so irrevocably that one cannot find another which suits it better. — Rene Magritte

What he imagines evokes nothing imaginary, it evokes the reality of the world that experience and reason treat in a confused manner. — Rene Magritte

Painting bores me like everything else. Unfortunately, painting is one of the activities - it is bound up in the series of activities - that seems to change almost nothing in life, the same habits are always recurring. — Rene Magritte

My investigations resembled the pursuit of the solution to a problem for which I had three data: the object, the thing connected with it in the shadow of my consciousness, and the light wherein that thing would become apparent. — Rene Magritte

I like subversive humor, freckles, women's knees and long hair, the laughter of playing children, and a girl running down the street. — Rene Magritte

We must not fear daylight just because it almost always illuminates a miserable world. — Rene Magritte

I despise my own past and that of others. I despise resignation, patience, professional heroism and all the obligatory sentiments. I also despise the decorative arts, folklore, advertising, radio announcers' voices, aerodynamics, the Boy Scouts, the smell of naphtha, the news, and drunks.
I like subversive humor, freckles, women's knees and long hair, the laughter of playing children, and a girl running down the street.
I hope for vibrant love, the impossible, the chimerical.
I dread knowing precisely my own limitations. — Rene Magritte

The present reeks of mediocrity and the atom bomb. — Rene Magritte

I want nevertheless to add that for me the world is a defiance of common sense. — Rene Magritte

Art evokes the mystery without which the world would not exist — Rene Magritte

This is not a pipe. — Rene Magritte

The feeling we experience while we look at a picture is not to be distinguished from the picture or from ourselves. the feeling, picture, and ourselves are united in one mystery. — Rene Magritte

Each thing we see hides something else we want to see. — Rene Magritte

Only thought can resemble. It resembles by being what it sees, hears, or knows; it becomes what the world offers it. — Rene Magritte

Life obliges me to do something, so I paint. — Rene Magritte

My painting is visible images which conceal nothing ... they evoke mystery and indeed when one sees one of my pictures, one asks oneself this simple question 'What does that mean'? It does not mean anything, because mystery means nothing either, it is unknowable. — Rene Magritte

It is not my intention to make anything comprehensible. I am of the opinion that there are sufficient paintings which one understands after a shorter or longer delay, and that therefore some incomprehensible painting would now be welcome. I am at pains to deliver such, as far as possible. — Rene Magritte

Between words and objects one can create new relations and specify characteristics of language and objects generally ignored in everyday life. — Rene Magritte

He is no longer the pretext for a story: the story itself renders him homage. The works of Fantomas can neither be destroyed nor accept modifications ... Fantomas requires more of others than of himself ... He is never completely invisible. His likeness can be seen through his face ... Fantomas's science is more precious than the word. It is not possible to guess it - and no one can doubt its power. — Rene Magritte

Do not accept any explanation of the world either through chance or determinism. You are not responsible for your belief. It is not even you who decides that you are not responsible - and so on to infinity. You are not obliged to believe. There is no point of departure. — Rene Magritte

If the dream is a translation of waking life, waking life is also a translation of the dream. — Rene Magritte

I detest my past, and anyone else's. I detest resignation, patience, professional heroism and obligatory beautiful feelings. I also detest the decorative arts, folklore, advertising, voices making announcements, aerodynamism, boy scouts, the smell of moth balls, events of the moment, and drunken people. — Rene Magritte