What the apple symbolizes in the most famous painting by Rene Magritte: 6 popular versions

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

None of the works of the famous Belgian artist Rene Magritte has captured the imagination of the world as much as The Son of Man. Even viewers who don't know him by name will immediately recognize the author's surreal masterpiece. At first glance, unremarkable work hides the deep meanings of being and attitudes of modern society.

René Magritte's painting "The Son of Man" is amazing and popular at the same time. Perhaps one of the most easily recognizable surreal works, it has become an iconic depiction in various interpretations, books, films and videos. And it was created by one of the greatest artists. In the ranking of the British newspaper The Times - a rating of the 200 best artists of the twentieth century - Rene Magritte ranks 32nd.

Plot

Originally painted in 1964 on a 89 x 116 cm canvas, this fascinating painting was a self-portrait. The "Son of Man" is dressed formally, in a dark gray suit with a bowler hat, collar and red tie. He stands in front of a low wall over which the sea is visible. Above the horizon, the sky appears cloudy. The viewer gets the impression that it is daytime. The man's face is largely obscured by a floating green apple. The hero's eyes are only slightly noticeable, looking over the edge of the apple. Both the apple and the bowler hat became recurring motifs on Magritte's canvases. The surreal painting contains some riddles: the man's left arm bends slightly back at the elbow (in this case, the person in the painting turns out to be facing the water, not the viewer), his third button is unbuttoned, and his torso seems to be infinitely long. Perhaps by this the artist wanted to say that a person is not perfect and, in addition to virtues, each has its own shortcomings. Like the Son of man.

History of creation

In 1963, a friend, adviser and patron of Magritte, Harry Torchiner, commissioned a self-portrait of Magritte himself. As the surviving letters indicate to his friend, it was difficult for Magritte to paint his own portrait. Magritte described these difficulties as a "problem of conscience." As a compromise, the artist hid his face with a symbolic fruit. When Magritte nevertheless completed the ordered painting, an image of this anonymous man in a bowler hat called "The Son of Man" was obtained.

Apple symbolism: six versions

There are several versions of the interesting symbolism of the apple hiding a person's face. The first version is survival … The hero of the picture is an ordinary office worker in this world, earning money for a living day after day. Routine daily actions are performed by the hero in order to survive in the modern world. Of everything a person makes a living for, food is the most important. She is in the first place of human needs. He will not survive without food, this is the first virtue. Perhaps the artist's message is that food is important to everyone. Whether it is a man in a coat or a beggar on the street, food should be given to everyone. The second version is hiding the truth. This version of the symbolism of the apple is hidden in the description of Magritte himself: “At least it partially hides the face well, so you have an obvious face, an apple, hiding the visible but hidden face of a person. This is something that happens all the time. Everything that we see hides something else, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see. There is an interest in what is hidden and what the visible does not show us. This interest can take the form of a rather intense feeling, a kind of conflict, one might say, between the visible, which is hidden, and the visible, which is presented. " Magritte used an apple to hide his real face, and in his comments on the painting, Magritte spoke of a person's desire to see what is hidden behind the visible. The third version is about Adam and Jesus. The connection between the use of the apple and the title of the painting "Son of Man" has prompted some experts to wonder if this is a deliberate reference to Christian ideas about the temptation of Adam in the Garden of Eden and the fall of mankind. In the Christian faith, the phrase "Son of Man" refers to Jesus, which is why some analysts view Magritte's painting as a surreal depiction of the transfiguration of Jesus.

The fourth version is that the apple is the fruit of human labor. This version could also mean that no matter how we live, even if we become as successful as this tall, well-dressed hero, we still need to grow further and taller. And when we grow old, this is where our fruits will ripen (people's works will bear fruit and they will be rewarded). The fifth version is a symbol of knowledge and nature. Since ancient times, the apple has been considered the fruit of the tree of knowledge. This means that a hovering apple can be perceived as knowledge that a person is striving for. On the other hand, the apple is a symbol of nature, which man is trying to understand. At the same time, this detail gives harmony to the prosaic appearance of the neat bourgeois. The sixth version is impersonality and loss of individuality. The hero of the picture does not have the most important thing - the face. So this may mean that the Sons of God (all people on earth) have lost their individuality. Modern man, in pursuit of achievements, has turned into a soulless, replaceable object, designed not to exercise individual will, but to perform meaningless actions. Probably, this is not only a portrait of a person, but also a portrait of modern society.

Cycle of paintings

The Son of Man is often combined with two other works, which were also created in 1964. The first is the hero Magritte in a bowler hat, whose face is hidden by a bird (“The Man in the Bowler Hat). The second, The Great War, depicts an elegantly dressed woman in a similar seaside location, with her face covered by flowers. Combining ordinary elements in unusual ways was a key theme in Magritte's work, through which the artist conveyed his secret intentions.