contemporaryart
782285703601160192
“René Magritte’s painting The Rape (1934) is a disturbing and provocative surrealist work. It depicts a woman’s face replaced by the elements of her naked body—breasts where her eyes should be, a navel as a nose, and a vulva in place of the mouth. The image is intentionally jarring and unsettling.
Interpretation: Magritte is often exploring the relationship between images, meaning, and perception. In The Rape, many art critics see a commentary on how women are objectified—reduced to their sexual parts, even in how they’re visually “read” or perceived. By literally substituting a woman’s facial features with sexualized body parts, Magritte confronts viewers with the violence of that objectification. The title “The Rape” reinforces the idea of violation—not necessarily a literal act, but a psychological or visual one.
It’s meant to provoke discomfort and reflection, especially on how women’s identities can be erased or overridden by the gaze of others.”
René Magritte
The Rape
1966
graphite on wove paper
14 1/8 x 10 5/8 in.
782270259042353152
“I don’t listen to what art critics say. I don’t know anybody who needs a critic to find out what art is.” — Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat in his studio, New York, 1982. Photo by Gianfranco Gorgoni © Maya Gorgoni.
782269392097509376
“Good artists do not copy, great artists do not steal.”
782171043238445056
“Just because a piece of art sold doesn’t mean it’s good.”
781750983887847425
What are you trying to prove?
781715158063104000
“Good artists do not copy, great artists do not steal.”
781622863930261504
“The creative process is a cocktail of instinct, skill, culture and a highly creative feverishness. It is not like a drug; it is a particular state when everything happens very quickly, a mixture of consciousness and unconsciousness, of fear and pleasure; it’s a little like making love, the physical act of love.”
Francis Bacon
Study After Velázquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X
1953
Oil on canvas
60 × 46 in