The Art of Conversation

THIS IMAGE! I absolutely love it, it blows my mind how the wonderful depth and joy of conversation is illustrated in such a simple way.  I can really relate to the image I suppose.

It was painted in 1963 by the Belgian artist, Rene Margritte.  He was very famous for a few paintings, amongst other; The Treachery of Images, 1929.  In it, he famously painted a pipe, with the words below: "This is not a pipe".  He argued, it was in fact only a picture of a pipe.  If you tried to stuff it, you couldn't.  If he wrote it was a pipe he would be lying.  You can read more about it here: https://www.renemagritte.org/the-treachery-of-images.jsp

Magritte was sometimes referred to as a surrealist, but his methods did differ from the other surrealist painters.  He didn't find imagery for his work in his dreams or subconscious, but rather from questioning reality through everyday actions and images, and depicting them in an unusual way.  Through his paintings he managed to breath new life into everyday situations, and perhaps caused people to look at things a bit differently and consider other options, dig a little deeper.

The Art of Conversation is, in my opinion, a wonderful example of the famous quote by Edward Hopper: "I you could say it in words, there would be no reason to paint".  Who can explain the wonderful connection and deep satisfaction one gets from a truly deep and meaningful conversation.  To me, conversation is the foundation on which relationships are built and this image is such a wonderful depiction of the elation one can feel while having a good conversation.

The image itself looks so very ordinary, a perfectly ordinary landscape, so ordinary you almost don't notice it.  You can't even tell if it is morning or early evening, whether a storm is brewing or whether it is just calm cloudy weather.  In my opinion he created a perfectly bland background, which emphasises the contrast between the figures and the background.  This emphasises the extraordinariness of the situation.

This 40 x 50 cm version of the image tries to convey the magic he created with this depiction of a seemingly ordinary and everyday event.  I hope it reminds us all to look at life differently and appreciate all the good there is to find and experience.  It has 24 colours.  Each box contains a stretched, printed and numbered canvas, paint, brushes and a page detailing the numbers for an extra reference.

Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see.”
- Rene Magritte

Sources

https://www.renemagritte.org/

http://imagespoetrysilence.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-art-of-conversation-by-rene.html