Associations

In his work, Magritte associates objects that are not made to be gathered. For example here, shoes and feet.

Picture : The red Model, 1937

On this picture, a body of a woman becomes a face.

The rape, 1935

Les vacances d’Hegel

Picture : Les vacances d'Hegel, 1958

http://histoireetcivilisation.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/les-vacances-de-hegel.jpg

Here is a glass on an umbrella. Strange, isn’t it ? Indeed, this picture depicts two objects that have opposit functions. A glass is made to contain water whereas an umbrella is made to reject it and to protect yourself from it. This creates trouble in the watcher’s mind. 

The collective invention

Picture : The collective invention, 1934
 http://www.collage.ro/2011/01/rene-magritte/1935-magritte-linvention-collective-73x116-cm/ 

The artist painted it in 1934, one year after the rise to power of Hitler. This is a reversed mermaid which stands for the fear feeling of the artist.
This canvas annouces the fascist conflict the surrealist artists had warned against.

In 1953, this chimera is depitcted again. Maybe this is a metaphor of relationships caused by the cold war : frozen, dead, bitter. The artist expresses his desillusion in regard to his humanist ideas.