Homesickness

The ‘Homesickness’ painting is an 80 x 60 cm, oil on canvas painting created by Rene Magritte in 1940. The painting is currently exhibited in Galerie Isy Brachot.

The piece is a vibrant coloured artistic representation that is made up of a montage of different images brought as one in a particular manner. The focal point of the portrait is a man dressed in a black suit with wings gazing into the horizon on a bridge, while a lion stares in a different direction behind him.

The silhouette of a city skyline fills the background of the painting. An analysis of Rene Magritte’s paintings shows that this painting is unique. Firstly, because of the use of contrast considering the spaces draws one's sight to the man and the lion. Secondly, the painting was created using vibrant colours giving an impression unlike any of Magritte’s work. Thirdly, the use of imagery is poetic.

Rene uses the bridge in the painting as a symbol highlighting his mother death after she took her own life on a similar bridge over the river Sambre. The man with wings is an artistic representation of Magritte’s desire to changes his life; his black clothes representing his sadness after the demise of his mother while the wings highlighting his wish to change his situation. The lion staring away from the man displays Magritte’s confusion after his mother death, explaining to the viewer how he certainly not comprehends what had led her to take her own life.

The ‘homesickness’ piece helps art lovers take a peek into his mind, giving an impression of how Magritte views his life after the death of his mother. He passes his emotions to the painting through the use of the varied tones of colours that are visible on the piece. The painting was influenced by Surrealism a style that traces its origin in 1924 Paris. The technique was only used by an elite group of artists who pursued to unconsciously unlock the power of imagination. In the end, it can be argued that the ‘homesickness’ painting by Magritte is a mastery of the surrealism physiognomies that best explains the man and not the painter.