Magritte: The Pleasure Principle, Tate Liverpool | reviews, news & interviews
Magritte: The Pleasure Principle, Tate Liverpool
Magritte: The Pleasure Principle, Tate Liverpool
The Belgian Surrealist was a master of the visual paradox. This exhibition shows why
Thursday, 28 July 2011
'Time Transfixed', 1938: 'Its phallic train emits steam as it exits the sterile fireplace'
Dalí may have the edge on Magritte for instant recognition and popularity, but how easily the Belgian beats the Spaniard as the more interesting Surrealist. Armed with his small repertoire of images – the nude, the shrouded head, the bowler hat, the apple and the pipe, to name a few – and painted in that precise, pictogram way of his, Magritte is an artist who holds back more than he gives away. Next to his restrained, meticulously tidy offerings, Dalí appears decidedly overcooked.
Dalí may have the edge on Magritte for instant recognition and popularity, but how easily the Belgian beats the Spaniard as the more interesting Surrealist. Armed with his small repertoire of images – the nude, the shrouded head, the bowler hat, the apple and the pipe, to name a few – and painted in that precise, pictogram way of his, Magritte is an artist who holds back more than he gives away. Next to his restrained, meticulously tidy offerings, Dalí appears decidedly overcooked.
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