René MagritteBelgien, 1898–1967The White Race
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Art Institute of Chicago
Chicago, USA
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Om maleriet
This painting belongs to a series of four works by René Magritte, all titled The White Race. In each he composed sculpturesque figures from isolated body parts and facial features, disrupting how bodies are usually seen. By deconstructing and reassembling human appendages, the artist defamiliarized something so ubiquitous as to be easily overlooked—the female nude, so often white in Western art—to challenge conventional understandings of bodily forms.
Læs videre
Typically, Magritte’s titles are not descriptive but rather philosophical, raising questions and bringing related ideas to mind poetically. This work’s title suggests a critique of European culture, or what we might now call the social construction of whiteness. In speaking of the painting, however, Magritte focused on the “opportunity. . . to ask questions of the public; I would ask visitors if they couldn’t tell me why I had given the figure two noses.”
Art Institute of ChicagoCC BY 4.0
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- 2016.84
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- Billede: Art Institute of Chicago — © the artist or rights holder
Imens i livet hos René Magritte
Hele livet1930s
The patronage of Edward James
The British Surrealist patron Edward James let Magritte stay rent-free in his London home, where he studied architecture and painted; James is depicted in two paintings of 1937, “The Pleasure Principle” and “Not to Be Reproduced”.
1930–1954 · Bopæl
René Magritte House
1936
First solo exhibition in the United States
In 1936 his first solo exhibition in the United States was held at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York.
1936–1940
An affair with Sheila Legge and a marriage in crisis
In 1936 Magritte met the young performance artist Sheila Legge and began an affair with her; he arranged for his friend Paul Colinet to entertain and distract Georgette, but this led to an affair between Georgette and Colinet. The couple did not reconcile until 1940.
1938
Exhibition at the London Gallery
In 1938 an exhibition of his work was held at the London Gallery, following the New York solo show of 1936.
1938
A lecture on the “magical” in art
In a lecture in 1938 Magritte named the magical in art — which he had met as a child — as his guiding star.
