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Golconda
René Magritte • Painting, 1953, 100×81 cm
Description of the artwork «Golconda»
Magritte was making in his paintings only in the last years of his life. His paintings began a triumphal March around the world, they exhibited not only in Europe but also overseas. Magritte, at the end of life finally felt the taste for travelling and even went to new York in 1965 to open a solo exhibition at the Museum of modern art.
But for almost the entire life of the main income artist was advertising. In 20-ies he created a series of posters in the art Deco style for the Belgian fashion house Norine. And in the 30s, after his return from Paris, opened along with brother Paul's own advertising Agency, which provided the artist with a comfortable existence. However, before Magritte had to do the work, perhaps, the most ungrateful to the painter. He worked at the factory that produced the Wallpaper, and day after day for a whole year painted the same plain floral patterns. The same, which in the future will cover the walls of his cozy house in Brussels. For some reason this fact from the biography of the artist I remember first looking at the picture "Golkonda" covered with a very peculiar pattern.
The painting was named after the ancient Indian city, famous for the production of especially large diamonds (according to legend, here was found the famous gemstones, the Kohinoor and the Regent). As in the case of most of the paintings Magritte, the title of the painting – a kind of rebus that makes the viewer stop and think about how exactly it is associated with the image. But art historians believe that the location of men in bowler hats on the canvas resembles the crystalline structure of the diamond. If not dive so deeply and to remember that the Surrealists often gave his paintings titles that are completely unrelated subjects, we can assume that the "Golconda" depicts raining men in bowler hats. And if at first they seem solid, faceless wall, how we need a closer look, you notice that each of the characters in the paintings a little different from the others. Just as no two completely identical drops of rain or two identical gems.
Author: Eugene Sidelnikov
But for almost the entire life of the main income artist was advertising. In 20-ies he created a series of posters in the art Deco style for the Belgian fashion house Norine. And in the 30s, after his return from Paris, opened along with brother Paul's own advertising Agency, which provided the artist with a comfortable existence. However, before Magritte had to do the work, perhaps, the most ungrateful to the painter. He worked at the factory that produced the Wallpaper, and day after day for a whole year painted the same plain floral patterns. The same, which in the future will cover the walls of his cozy house in Brussels. For some reason this fact from the biography of the artist I remember first looking at the picture "Golkonda" covered with a very peculiar pattern.
The painting was named after the ancient Indian city, famous for the production of especially large diamonds (according to legend, here was found the famous gemstones, the Kohinoor and the Regent). As in the case of most of the paintings Magritte, the title of the painting – a kind of rebus that makes the viewer stop and think about how exactly it is associated with the image. But art historians believe that the location of men in bowler hats on the canvas resembles the crystalline structure of the diamond. If not dive so deeply and to remember that the Surrealists often gave his paintings titles that are completely unrelated subjects, we can assume that the "Golconda" depicts raining men in bowler hats. And if at first they seem solid, faceless wall, how we need a closer look, you notice that each of the characters in the paintings a little different from the others. Just as no two completely identical drops of rain or two identical gems.
Author: Eugene Sidelnikov
