Stand-alone Surrealist and pipe dreamer René Magritte was born in Belgium. In his teens he passed his time bunking-off art school but, after seeing 'The Song Of Love' (the painting, not the musical) by Greek Metaphysical artist (and ex- Marx brother) Chirico, he got the art bug proper and started putting brush to canvas in a Cubist/Futurist fashion. After leaving art school heaven and entering the real world of huge frites bills and trips to the handmade chocolate shop, he supported himself by designing wallpaper and fashion ads.
In 1925 he sold his 'Lost Jockey', not a mislaid item of underwear but his first really Surreal painting of a tiny equine creature surmounted by an even tinier sports creature.
In 1927 he moved to Paris and joined André Breton's crew but failed to hit it off with the Surrealist squad-father and flounced back to Belgium.
Having had his fill of wacky lifestyles, René decided to restrict his innate weirdness to painting whilst living the ultra-conventional life of a (surrealist) tax inspector or accountant. However, he did have the odd lapse, like the time he asked for a piece of cheese, then refused to buy it because it had been looked atby passers-by and therefore wouldn't taste the same (so now you know why supermarket tomatoes are totally flavourless).
In the 1930s the incongruity that characterised his early work was replaced by overall harmony after he'd looked at a bird but seen an egg, or so he said (obviously been at the magic mayonnaise again).
In the late 1960s the public finally recognised René's all-round wonderfulness but, at that exact moment, it was scientifically proved that he'd been no more than a pigment of their imagination.
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