René Magritte

Known for: The Treachery of Images (1929); Belgian Surrealism

René Magritte developed a Surrealist practice of extreme formal precision — images painted in a smooth, almost commercial manner — depicting impossible or ironic juxtapositions: a pipe labeled "Ceci n'est pas une pipe," a man's face obscured by a floating apple, a locomotive emerging from a fireplace. He lived in Brussels throughout his career and worked in bourgeois obscurity, dressing in a bowler hat and suit, while producing images that became among the most widely reproduced in twentieth-century art. His work has been disproportionately influential on advertising and graphic design.