Rene Magritte & Surrealism

Surrealism is a 20th-century avant-garde movement in art and literature that sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind, for example by the irrational juxtaposition of images. The man wearing a bowler hat in Renes pieces was a motif repeated in many photos, the reason why Magritte used this man was unclear. Some believed it was a portrait of himself. It was important that Rene varied the images of the man in the bowler hat because each painting then told a different story left for the viewer to interpret. Surreal artist create strange worlds with their art expressing imaginative dreams and visions free from conscious rational control. Juxtaposition, altered scale, and language helped Magritte explore Surrealism because the juxtaposition made the art random, the language is left for the viewer to interpret, and altered scale was used to disorient viewers. The reason Rene may have covered the faces of  his works was mostly because of when he was a child his mother committed suicide and when she was recovered her face was covered. Magritte strived for realism and precision in his paintings because it allowed for viewers to focus on the subject of work instead of the techniques used to paint it.

Examples: 

in both of these pieces juxtaposition is mainly used, these objects are random and are in areas you usually wouldn't find them. Altered scale is also used because the objects are enlarged and unproportional   

Examples from artist

Outward vs. Inward

Outward
It may seem, depending on what class I'm in, that I am a little quiet and more kept to myself because I like to concentrate a lot on my schoolwork. When I'm with my friends in school I'm usually smiling a lot and laughing, but other than that i usually have a straight face which could be shown in a photograph for my outward pictures. I think i would like to wear more black and white so the picture is more dark. I also would use less lighting in the studio.
List of words:
-sad
-quiet
-concentrated
-dark

Inward

The real me that people are unaware of is that I'm actually very loud and talkative around friends or people that I am used to talking to. I like to be busy most of the time with friends. This could be represented as a bright image with things in it that would be considered "happy". I would use a lot of lighting for this shot.
List of words:
-Happy
-bright
-smiley
-outgoing