La saveur des larmes (1951)
Created in 1951, La saveur des larmes (The Flavor of Tears) is a poetic and enigmatic gouache on paper by Belgian surrealist René Magritte. Measuring 36.5 x 46 cm, the work exemplifies Magritte’s ability to infuse everyday imagery with mystery and philosophical tension.
In this composition, a seemingly natural subject—often a bird or leaf in Magritte's variations on the theme—reveals an uncanny rupture, inviting viewers to question perception and reality. The title itself evokes a visceral, emotional dimension, suggesting that the visible world is layered with invisible feeling and thought.
With his signature clarity of form and conceptual depth, Magritte transforms the ordinary into the surreal, challenging our assumptions and illuminating the strangeness hidden beneath the surface of things. La saveur des larmes is a subtle yet powerful reminder of the paradoxes that define both vision and emotion.
René Magritte (1898–1967)
René Magritte was a leading figure of the Surrealist movement, celebrated for his quietly subversive imagery and philosophical depth. Born in Belgium, he developed a visual language that blended meticulous realism with unexpected juxtapositions, challenging the boundaries between reality and illusion. His works often paired ordinary objects in unfamiliar contexts—clouds in rooms, faces obscured by apples, or words that question their own meaning.
Magritte’s art invites viewers to look beyond the surface, turning the act of seeing into a profound inquiry. Unlike many of his Surrealist peers, he favored clarity over chaos, using precision to evoke mystery. Through this paradoxical clarity, Magritte created a world where the familiar becomes strange and the poetic quietly disrupts the rational.
His legacy endures as one of modern art’s most influential thinkers, a painter-philosopher whose work continues to intrigue, provoke, and inspire.
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