Photo By Gail

Belgian artist René Magritte (1899 – 1967) is famous for his surrealist works, which often challenge the viewer’s perception of reality and the ordinary.  In The Portrait (1935), a simply laid-out meal is not as simple as it seems. Each object is rendered with equally sharp focus and pictorial realism, yet any expectation of everyday reality is overturned, above all by the unblinking eye that stares inexplicably from a slice of ham on a plate. The perspective of this still life tilts dramatically toward the surface of the picture plane, as if to confront or perhaps invite the viewer to join the table.

Photographed in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC