The Treachery of Images
| 300px | |
| Artist | René Magritte |
|---|---|
| Year | 1928–29 |
| Type | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 63.5 cm × 93.98 cm (25 in × 37 in) |
| Location | Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California[1] |
The Treachery of Images (French: La trahison des images [la tʁaizɔ̃ dez imaʒ], 1928–29, sometimes translated as The Treason of Images) is a painting by the Belgian surrealist painter René Magritte.
Description
The picture shows a pipe. Below it, Magritte painted, "Ceci n'est pas une pipe.", French for "This is not a pipe."
The famous pipe. How people reproached me for it! And yet, could you stuff my pipe? No, it's just a representation, is it not? So if I had written on my picture 'This is a pipe', I'd have been lying![2]
Context
Magritte painted The Treachery of Images when he was 30 years old. It is currently on display at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.[3] His statement is taken to mean that the painting itself is not a pipe. The painting is merely an image of a pipe. Hence, the description, "this is not a pipe." The theme of pipes with the text "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" is extended in his 1966 painting, Les Deux Mystères.[4]
The painting is sometimes given as an example of meta message conveyed by paralanguage.[5] Compare with Korzybski's "The word is not the thing" and "The map is not the territory".
See also
| External video | |
|---|---|
 Magritte's The Treachery of Images (Ceci n’est pas une pipe), Smarthistory[6] |
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| René Magritte considers language and perception, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art[7] |
References
- ↑ La Trahison des images (Ceci n'est pas une pipe), 1929, Painting, Oil on canvas. Purchased with funds provided by the Mr. and Mrs. William Preston Harrison Collection (78.7). On public view: Ahmanson Building 2nd Floor.
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- ↑ Studies in Language, Volume 28, Issues 1-2, J. Benjamins 2004, p. 247, doi: 10.1075/sl.28.1.14hai
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Further reading
- Allmer, Patricia. René Magritte: Beyond Painting, Manchester University Press, 2009. ISBN 0-7190-7928-4.
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External links
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Wikiversity has learning materials about Literature/1929/Magritte#Parody |
- This could be a pipe: Foucault, irrealism and Ceci n'est pas une pipe essay in irreal (re)views
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