Assignment-3
A reflection on La Trahison des images
This is Not a Pipe is a surrealist work by a famous Belgium artist René Magritte. The work was created in 1929. Surrealism is a type of art where artists understand emotion and ideas without being complicated by trying to link the image to what your mind already knows. It involves being honest in art.
The above painting shows a pipe, but below it there is a quote by the artist in French “Ceci n’est pas une pipe,” which when translated to English, means “This is not a pipe.” The text below the painting simply communicates a concept that any viewer can grasp quickly. It is not a pipe but a drawing of a pipe.
The title “This is not a pipe” is not ironic (as it’s obviously a pipe), but factual. It is a commentary on the nature of art. It is not a pipe; it is a representation of a pipe. It tells us that every image we see in art is not the “real” thing; it is the artist’s representation of that thing.
It can be interpreted in many ways according to what the viewer perceives. For example, it is not a pipe but paint on canvas. The painting encourages the society to take things literally and use their mind to explore their thoughts and encourage alternative thinking.
The most important thing that I learned here is that one should always think with an open mind and then everything you thought you knew becomes an unversed stranger in a fraction of second. Thinking helps us to define and organise experiences, plan, learn, reflect and create. So one should always think and see things differently.
