René Magritte: Some may call him the master of the absurd, I call him the closest thing to a philosopher the art world has ever seen. You may know his works as those deliciously impossible paintings: a train coming through a fireplace or the suit without a man. This is how Magritte did surrealism, in dream-like, poetic imagery that carries impact.

He worked in a field of seeming opposites. But his work was actually were a take on the world and the artist's place in the world. His painting, The Treachery of Images exemplifies this idea. The painting is in an almost early-pop art style of pipe and the text below reads “this is not a pipe.” This seems at first glance to be a contradiction, but it is one that is right. It is a painting of a pipe, not a pipe. This could be seen as a comment on realism in art and how the artist can never truly depict the object they are after.

Magritte began taking drawing lessons at the age of 12. Two years later, his Mother committed suicide by drowning herself in a lake. It was rumored that Magritte was there when her body was found, her face covered with her dress, but this has since been chalked up to myth. However, psycho-therapists viewing Magrittes work over the years have assumed that his attention to the fantastic, to the unreal comes from this early trauma.

According to Wiki, one such psycho analyst said “Magritte's back and forth play with reality and illusion reflects his "constant shifting back and forth from what he wishes—'mother is alive'—to what he knows—'mother is dead' ". René Magritte described his paintings as "visible images which conceal nothing; they evoke mystery and, indeed, when one sees one of my pictures, one asks oneself this simple question, 'What does that mean?'. It does not mean anything, because mystery means nothing either, it is unknowable.

A Magritte reproduction is one to study, and brings an element of whimsy and curiosity to any home. And for more, check out the Magritte Museum in Brussels.