Why does rene magritte use apples

Amitai Sasson. Our authors are a diverse mix of people from around the world. Some of us are practicing artists, while others may be art historians or interior designers. Whether you want tips and tricks for refining your own space or enjoy reading true stories from the lives of the masters, it's our mission to create content you'll love. Posted by Amitai Sasson. Just over years ago, Rene Magritte was born in Belgium. It's something that happens constantly. Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see.

There is an interest in that which is hidden and which the visible does not show us. This interest can take the form of a quite intense feeling, a sort of conflict, one might say, between the visible that is hidden and the visible that is present. Rockwell's signature style was anything but surreal, but in he tried his hand at Magritte's milieu with Mr. Blum — Here it is! I really enjoyed painting Mr. The Garden of the Hesperides was used as a subject by some artists of the modern age.

Hesperides Garden. Frederic Leighton. Edward Coley Burne-Jones. Triptych: Hesperide. Hans von Mare. The Graces — ancient Greek goddesses of beauty and grace — were often depicted holding apples. The latter , respectively , symbolized youth , health and beauty.

Sometimes Graces held balls — symbols of perfection , interpreted as golden apples. It is noteworthy that apples appeared in the Graces' hands in the Renaissance The Renaissance is the period that began around the 14th century and ended at the late 16th century, traditionally associated primarily with the Italian region. The ideas and images of the Renaissance largely determined the aesthetic ideals of modern man, his sense of harmony, measure and beauty.

Read more. The three graces Raphael Sanzio. The Trojan War was also triggered by an apple namely — the apple of discord. It was a golden apple which was inscribed , "To the Fairest" and planted at the marriage ceremony of Peleus and Thetis by the goddess Eris who was jealous because she was not invited to a banquet.

Of course , Hera , Athena and Aphrodite claimed a symbolic prize — each one considered herself the most beautiful. Zeus ordered Paris to give the apple to the most beautiful goddess.

The abduction of Helen marked the beginning of the Trojan War , and the apple became a symbol of discord. This is how an innocent fruit turned into a source of disasters and … beautiful canvases.

From the cycle of Greek mythology , it is the Judgement of Paris that became the most popular plot. The apple of discord remains interesting to contemporary painters — many of them resort to motifs reminiscent of the pastoral beauty contest of Paris. As , for example , the painting Apple of Discord by Alexander Melnikov , given above. Apples in religious painting With the advent of Christianity , there appeared the image of the "Apple of the Fall". Later it was transformed into the biblical motif of the actual Fall and temptation.

By the way , there are no apples in the Book of Genesis — only "fruit" are mentioned there. But in many icons and paintings of the following centuries , the Infant Christ already holds an apple , symbolizing his future mission as the redeemer expiating the sins of mankind. The apple here becomes salvation. While he was working as a draftsman in a wallpaper factory, he began to experiment with surrealism, producing his first surrealist work The Lost Jockey. Magritte held his first solo exhibition in , but was left desolate when art critics showed a strong dislike for his work.

While Paris gave him inspiration to complete works such as The Lovers and the Treachery of Images , he failed to make a lasting impact on the arts scene and moved back to Brussels in The outbreak of WWII inspired his Renoir period, where Magritte adopted a colorful style in opposition to the chaos and destruction of the war.

He explained this in a letter, saying:. Magritte portrayed this crudeness through his pieces, and as he predicted, they were not well-received.