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„Magritte
2.0 –
The Betrayal of Betrayal“ 2006
(62 x 85 cm = seize of the original painting, oil on canvas)
In 1929, Magritte painted a picture of a pipe. Below the picture, he wrote: “Ceci n’est pas un pipe” – this is not a pipe. And as if artists would take their motifs for real things, this picture became famous just because of this sentence which, in a fascinating manner, is neither true nor a lie. Magritte’s picture owes his fame also to the circumstance that, in its time, artists were just beginning to invent the classical modern arts. According to this concept of art, mixing reality and dream, fiction and unconscious or the interpenetration of life and art is not only allowed but even desired.
Such a topsy-turvy culture depended on illuminating hints like the one given by Magritte. 70 years later, however, this “betrayal of the pictures” (the original title) needs an update. So, beside its historical value, the picture retains also significance for current art. 70 years later, we know which way the wind of Beuys blows and that this wind has become exhausted like the hare in its fairy-tale race with the hedgehog. This versatile motif of the hare, a fertile animal which has no reputation for being intelligent, is alluded to by the ornamental renovation of the background of the picture; the modified subtitle “Ceci n’est pas un Magritte” refers to a saying of Magritte that no one would be able to bridge the gap between the sign and the signified, or, as he did express it: “to fill the pipe”. This, however, becomes possible on a semiotic meta-level: This is definitely no Magritte.
(62 x 85 cm = seize of the original painting, oil on canvas)
In 1929, Magritte painted a picture of a pipe. Below the picture, he wrote: “Ceci n’est pas un pipe” – this is not a pipe. And as if artists would take their motifs for real things, this picture became famous just because of this sentence which, in a fascinating manner, is neither true nor a lie. Magritte’s picture owes his fame also to the circumstance that, in its time, artists were just beginning to invent the classical modern arts. According to this concept of art, mixing reality and dream, fiction and unconscious or the interpenetration of life and art is not only allowed but even desired.
Such a topsy-turvy culture depended on illuminating hints like the one given by Magritte. 70 years later, however, this “betrayal of the pictures” (the original title) needs an update. So, beside its historical value, the picture retains also significance for current art. 70 years later, we know which way the wind of Beuys blows and that this wind has become exhausted like the hare in its fairy-tale race with the hedgehog. This versatile motif of the hare, a fertile animal which has no reputation for being intelligent, is alluded to by the ornamental renovation of the background of the picture; the modified subtitle “Ceci n’est pas un Magritte” refers to a saying of Magritte that no one would be able to bridge the gap between the sign and the signified, or, as he did express it: “to fill the pipe”. This, however, becomes possible on a semiotic meta-level: This is definitely no Magritte.