Memory

Memory is a painting created by the surrealist artist Rene Magritte. Memory depicts a beheaded statue which seems to have a wounded eye.

Looking at the name 'memory' we can take some guess to what the picture may portray. Magritte tended to paint a variety of allegorical paintings (paintings which have hidden meanings), meaning this picture has a message to portray.

The head wounded could depict her memories seeping out. The wound representing how painful these memories are to her. The painting also shows a bell and a rose.

They could be part of the painful memory. Maybe a lost lover or a destructive relationship.

This picture could represent a forgotten lover who she is trying to remember. This painting was painted in 1948, in Brussels. Magritte was a surrealist painter. Surrealist painting usual use weird or irrational imagery to portray meaning.

Because of the surrealist nature of this painting, we shouldn't take everything as it seems. The blood on the woman's face could represent something else.

Red is a colour often associated with love. Consequently, it is also associated with danger and panic. This could refer back to our first point and solidify that this painting shows a painful memory of a lover.

If we want to go in a different direction, we could look at the fact that the red on her face is the only colour there. Does this one memory stick to her and give her life in an otherwise bleak reality?

Maybe this could represent an amnesic individual trying to put her memories back together one at a time. Though as a surreal piece of art I have a feeling this has a less obvious intended meaning.

Finally, we will look at another possible meaning for this painting. The head could be looking back at a past memory. Remembering it as something it was not.

There is a lot of negative imagery in regard to love in this painting. She could be looking back at what was once a wondrous memory. However, now it is painful and heartbreaking and leaves her with nothing but wounds.