tue 19/03/2024

Magritte: The Pleasure Principle, Tate Liverpool | reviews, news & interviews

Magritte: The Pleasure Principle, Tate Liverpool

Magritte: The Pleasure Principle, Tate Liverpool

The Belgian Surrealist was a master of the visual paradox. This exhibition shows why

'Time Transfixed', 1938: 'Its phallic train emits steam as it exits the sterile fireplace'

Dalí may have the edge on Magritte for instant recognition and popularity, but how easily the Belgian beats the Spaniard as the more interesting Surrealist. Armed with his small repertoire of images – the nude, the shrouded head, the bowler hat, the apple and the pipe, to name a few – and painted in that precise, pictogram way of his, Magritte is an artist who holds back more than he gives away. Next to his restrained, meticulously tidy offerings, Dalí appears decidedly overcooked.

Dalí may have the edge on Magritte for instant recognition and popularity, but how easily the Belgian beats the Spaniard as the more interesting Surrealist. Armed with his small repertoire of images – the nude, the shrouded head, the bowler hat, the apple and the pipe, to name a few – and painted in that precise, pictogram way of his, Magritte is an artist who holds back more than he gives away. Next to his restrained, meticulously tidy offerings, Dalí appears decidedly overcooked.

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