René Magritte

"To the aesthete who insists on allowing a single work to speak for itself, Magritte is thinking ahead of you."—Full Stop

"To be able to read Magritte’s thoughts on Surrealism, on mainstream and avant- garde art, as well as his fictional and filmic texts, is both delightful and informative.  The goal of Surrealism is to liberate the imagination, and this collection will bring readers a step closer to realizing that goal."—Rain Taxi

"Effectively expands the interpretive lens through which to consider the artist’s work, releasing Magritte’s artistic successes both from the confines of his paintings alone as well as from his limited subscription to mainstream Surrealism and its tenets."—The Brooklyn Rail

"This volume will act as a useful resource for anyone studying the reception of Surrealism on the American West Coast in the 1940s, as well as those interested in Copley’s art."—The Burlington Magazine

"Throughout the four decades and various modes of writing covered by these Selected Writings, there is one intuition consistently maintained: For Magritte, art was not reflection on reality but an alternative to it, thanks to which we can see reality as strange."—Hyperallergic

Available for the first time in an English translation, this selection of René Magritte’s writings gives non-Francophone readers the chance to encounter the many incarnations of the renowned Belgian painter—the artist, the man, the aspiring noirist, the fire-breathing theorist—in his own words. Through whimsical personal letters, biting apologia, appreciations of fellow artists, pugnacious interviews, farcical film scripts, prose poems, manifestos, and much more, a new Magritte emerges: part Surrealist, part literalist, part celebrity, part rascal.While this book is sure to appeal to admirers of Magritte’s art and those who are curious about his personal life, there is also much to delight readers interested in the history and theory of art, philosophy and politics, as well as lovers of creativity and the inner workings of a probing, inquisitive mind unrestricted by genre, medium, or fashion. 

René Magritte (1898-1967) was an internationally renowned Belgian Surrealist painter who also wrote prolifically on art and other subjects.

Jo Levy was a British translator whose translations include Alain Robbe-Grillet’s Ghosts in the Mirror, Hélène Cixous’s Angst, Louis Aragon’s The Libertine, and Arthur Adamov’s Man and Child.

Kathleen Rooney is senior lecturer of English and creative writing at DePaul University. She is the author of eight books of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and criticism.

Eric Plattner is an adjunct professor of writing, rhetoric, and discourse at DePaul University.

Table of Contents

The Double Agent: A Preface by Sandra Zalman
The Alphabet of Revelations: An Introduction to René Magritte: Selected Writings by Kathleen Rooney
Pure Art: A Defense of the Aesthetic
Norine Blues
Texts from 391
Texts from Periode
Texts from Oesophage
Texts from Marie
You
The Legs of the Sky
Nick Carter
Personal Experience
The Man with the Aimless Face
“He Had Set out Alone…”
Notes on Fantômas
“All Precautions…”
“Her Heart is Mine…”
The Colours of the Night
“Communal Action…”
Reply to the Questionnaire on Love
“Poetry…”
Words and Images
Room for Thought
Surrealist Games
Ariadne’s Thread
Reply to the Questionnaire on the Crisis in Painting
Georges Braque
Exhibitions: Georges Rogy, W. Bartoszewicz, Alfred Wickenburg, at the Palais des Beaux-Arts
Lecture—London
“My Dear…”
“Dear Jef…”
Life Line
Bourgeois Art
For L’InventionCollective
“R.M. has Changed…”
The Paint Seller or The Labor of Man
Magic Lines
Homage to James Ensor
Three Pamphlets
Idiot
Silly Bugger
Fucker
A New Cultural Initiative from the College of Art
Texts from Le Surractuel
Le Jour Nul des Poètes
Francis Picabia: Animated Painting
Surrealism in the Sunshine: A Dossier
I. Quarrel of the Sun
II. Manifesto of Extramentalism (Notes)
III. Surrealism in the Sunshine: Manifesto no. 1—October 1946
IV. Surrealism in the Sunshine: Manifesto no. 2—November 1946
V. Manifesto of Amentalism
Le Savoir Vivre
Magritte and the Communist Party: A Dossier
I. Amendment
II. A Letter to the Belgium Communist Party
III. Letter to Le Drapeau Rouge
Magritte Interviewed by Louis Quiévreux
“Aesthetic Pleasure…”
On Titles
Magritte Interviewed by André Gomes
The Real Art of Painting
The Call of Blood
Letter to Micro-Magazine
Henri Heerbrant
Battle of Wits
Note to the Communist Party
The Condemned Man
“A Man of the People…”
“It is Difficult… ”
Two of a Kind
Magritte Interviewed by Maurice Bots
Reply to the Questionnaire: The Problem of Revolt
“I am Thinking about…”
A Great Neglected Painter: Permantier
Roundelay
“Evidence…”
Nat Pinkerton
M’s Useless Painting
On Jane Graverol
“Mallarmé’s Death…”
Magritte, Pataphysics, and the College
Reply to the Questionnaire on Sexuality
Autobiographical Sketch
Thought and Image
Magritte Interviewed by Jean Stévo (I)
Reply to the Questionnaire: “Does Thought…”
A Poetic Art
The End of the Octroi
Variants of Sadness
The Ignorant Fairy
L’Empire Des Lumières
René Magritte on Television
Aphorisms (dated)
Magritte’s Speech on Being Elected as a Member of the Académie Picard
“A Judgment on Art…”
“Surrealism…”
“The Charm of the Strange…”
René Magritte Puts the Image in Focus
In René Magritte’s Night the Sky Floats over Us All
Magritte Interviewed by Georges D’Amphoux