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The artwork that was chosen to be explored is Memory (1942) by René Magritte. Originally titled La Mémoire, it was created in 1942 with oil on canvas and its size is 30 x 22 in. or 75,4 x 55,4 cm. This work is stated to having been exhibited in the Galerie des Éditions La Boétie in 1945-1946, which was a private gallery of a French magistrate Estienne de La Boétie (Magritte and Gohr, 2017). Its current location remains to be unknown.
The focal point of the artwork is the marble sculpture in the form of a humans head. The eyes of the head are directed downwards and the face expresses no emotions. Contrast is manifested in this work through the white sculpture being painted with a bright sweat of blood from a wound the center of which seems to be the temple. Next to the sculpture is a white marble ball, separated in the middle by a horizontal strip. Both figures stand on the ground against the background of horizontally arranged wooden planks nailed together. The motif of repetition of horizontal lines is concluded with the cloudy sky rising upwards from the line of the horizon. The light falls from left to right, bringing into focus the central elements of the composition. The colors are restrained and natural, which leads to the message that the author attempted to convey.
This artwork was written by Magritte in 1942, in the midst of World War II, which he made strong statements about through paintings created at the time. During the German occupation of Belgium, Magritte altered the colors used and style of his works, making them resemble those of Impressionists: the artist considered it important to cheer people up and give them hope (Magritte and Gohr, 2017). It is common knowledge that Magritte tended to place hidden meanings in his paintings, that is, making them allegorical which led to the messages in his works needing to be deciphered. However, with Memory, the statement of the artist is more unambiguous, which reasonably alludes to the primitive nature of the idea of war and its lack of any depth.
This painting is mesmerizing to me for a variety of reasons, the main of them being the contrast between the perfect marble face of the sculpture and the bright red wound on its temple. It is as if Magritte intends to shock the audience with how something as flawless as the monumental perception of the human form appears to be dead without even having been alive. In my opinion, it is his attempt to draw attention to how inherently wrong the state of war is and how the wounds left by the war never really heal.
When it comes to looking at the elements of the composition, it is interesting to contemplate what the wooden planks were supposed to represent. On the one hand, the way they are positioned reminds of the beginning stages of the construction of a new building possibly, a new house, symbolizing rebirth after the terror of war. At the same time, these may allude to the wooden coffins in which soldiers were buried. This adds a new layer of horrifying subtext, much like how war marks our perception of things. Additionally, Magritte featured marble sculptures quite often in his art, possibly relying on their timelessness in order to convey his messages. The same image of a sculpture with a blood stain was used in the artists other works, many of which have the same title La Mémoire.
Reference
Magritte, R. F. G., Gohr, S. (2017). Magritte: Attempting the impossible. (C. Wynne, Ed.). (D. Pistolesi & J. Gabriel, Trans.). Davidsfonds Uitgeverij.
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