René Magritte Study Guide: Links & References

Compiled by Ralph Dumain

On this site:

René Magritte on the Revolutionary Artist vs. Folk Art & Stalinism

“La Ligne de vie” (“Lifeline”) [excerpts] by René Magritte

René Magritte to Harry Torczyner on Painting

René Magritte on Descartes, Berkeley, & confusion

Explanation Explained by René Magritte

René Magritte Interroge les Pierres Vivantes

Magritte, la Pataphysique et son Collège

René Magritte à propos de Jorge Luis Borgès

Écrits Complets par René Magritte

Magritte’s grotesquerie: from fear to pleasure

“René Magritte” par Paul Eluard

Borges, Magritte, & Escher by R. Dumain

Surrealism: Selected Links

Offsite:

René Magritte @ Ĝirafo

René Magritte - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

René Magritte: 100 Famous Paintings, Analysis, Complete Works, & Bio

Fondation Magritte

Magritte in popular culture

“Rene and Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After the War” by Paul Simon (YouTube)

Rene and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog after the War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Assorted essays on Magritte

Kochhar-Lindgren, Gray. “After Magritte #5: Hegel at the Beach,” Epoché, Issue #57 November 2022.

Writings & quotations by Magritte

Magritte, René. Écrits Complets, éd. établie et annotée par André Blavier. Paris: Flammarion, 1979. 761 pp.

Magritte, René. René Magritte: Selected Writings, edited by Kathleen Rooney and Eric Plattner, translated by Jo Levy with six pieces translated by Adam Elgar, preface by Sandra Zalman. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2016. xxiii, 286 pp.

Magritte, René. Magritte / Torczyner: Letters Between Friends, translated from the French by Richard Miller, introduction by Sam Hunter. New York: Henry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, 1994.

Torczyner, Harry. Magritte: The True Art of Painting, translated by Richard Miller. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1979. (Abridged version.)

Selected studies of Magritte

Chao, Shun-liang. Rethinking the Concept of the Grotesque: Crashaw, Baudelaire, Magritte. London: Legenda, 2010. See chapter 5: The Surrealist Grotesque: Magritte’s Object Lessons, pp. 130-167.

Danchev, Alex; Whitfield, Sarah. Magritte: a Life. New York: Pantheon Books, 2020.

Lipinski, Lisa. René Magritte and the Art of Thinking. New York: Routledge, 2019.

Noël, Bernard. Magritte, translated by Jeffrey Arsham. New York: Crown, 1977.

Videos

Magritte: The False Mirror  (20:18) by Arts Council of Great Britain; Films Incorporated, 1970. Released in the U.S. by Films Incorporated. Director, David Sylvester; words by E.L.T. Mesens, Louis Scutenarie, Rene Magritte; spoken by E.L.T. Mesens, Andrew Forge, Robin Campbell; music, Johannes Brahms; photographer, Bruce Beresford; editor, Peter Heelas.

Note: Magritte is known as a painter, but the ideas behind his art as well as writings, interviews, and analyses comprise the focus here. Note also that Magritte’s approach to art has a basis distinct from approaches of other surrealists. Some of the works cited contain depictions of Magritte’s artwork.