Key to Dreams (1935)
This painting is one part of the Key to Dreams series, which was painted by René Magritte in 1935. René Magritte (1898 – 1967) is a Belgian Surrealist artist. He is famous for his works that present conundrums of visual and verbal expression.
This painting depicts some images with texts that do not match-up. The picture of a horse with ‘the door’ text or a clock with ‘the wind’. This strategy was as same as with the French version (1930). An egg with l’ Acacia (the acacia), shoes with la Lune (the moon), a hat with la Neige (the snow), and so on. Magritte painted these objects were floating in a dark background without extra details. The text is painted white, like writing on a blackboard. It reminds me of the school teaching in my childhood, but with the wrong text.
Key to Dreams (1930)
This painting is interesting because it challenges the stable meaning between images and words. Magritte’s Key to Dreams defies the boundary between reality and illusion. Key to Dreams also represents the gap between reality and language: How adequately does language express reality? Is there any language expression that can fully express reality? Does language express reality or ‘shape’ reality?
Magritte’s works are often related to his mother’s death. His mother had drowned herself when Magritte was 14 years old. The shocking image of his mother’s suicide remains to become a myth in Magritte’s works. This experience of loss has a significant impact on Magritte’s surrealist paintings.
For me, Magritte is a genius, as he can represent complex problems in the philosophy of language and images in a simple way. His work was also shocking to the audience by challenging the stable relation in the signification consensus.