The Treachery of Images

by Rene Magritte

First of all, when I first see the painting itself, I describe it as

plain because there is just a color brown pipe drawn in a plain creamy
white background. Also, if describing the figure, the shape and the curve
line (outline) for me is perfectly drawn which formed the pipe figure.
According to the website www.wikart.org, it uses oil and canvas
as the media. With this, the painting was painted with a smooth texture.
With the lighting, I can imagine that the light is coming from the left side and I see the dark side of the
image which makes it somewhat realistic. However, my question about this is, if there is lighting, then
why is it that there is no shadow casted? On the other hand, with the curvature of lines, I can say that
that is one of the complex way of painting since the form and the shape of the figure will be based on
how you perfectly draw first the outline.
Furthermore, based on the website The Art Story,
“ The Treachery of Images cleverly highlights the gap between language and meaning.
Magritte combined the words and image in such a fashion that he forces us to question the
importance of the sentence and the word…”
The contradictory idea that the pipe (painting) was said to be not a pipe (words) only
tells us the significance of identifying an artwork structurally and semantically. What I found out
after reading the website for a few minutes, I realized that the artist is trying to say that the
painting is different from the actual object itself! With the emotion, honestly, I do not see any
emotion by just looking at the picture. But because of the use of image and words, those two
things symbolized artwork as an art of hidden meanings, meaning to say, we need to look at
deeper to the artwork to understand its meaning.
In my own perspective, its artistic value lies on our psychology as individual. It is valuable in a
sense that we need to carefully understand works and know the significance of the relationship of the
words and images. Indeed, the artwork did well in terms of conceptual execution because Magritte
made use of words and images for the people to think and analyze the artwork.

When I first see the picture, I can only see

cursive text written. According to the website
www.moma.org, this is a print created at Novia
Scotia by students. The repetition of text technique
for me makes it unique structure-wise.
According to Baldesseri,
“What I thought art should be, not what somebody
else would think art would be. You know, received
wisdom, what you would get in school. And so a lot
of my work was about questioning this received
wisdom.”
I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art
John Baldessari

With this, we can say that Baldesseri’s artwork opens our minds that art is not just seeing a
beautiful object that attracts your eyes. Rather, the beauty of the object can be based on how people
perceived it (subjectivism). With this print, it can symbolize students who want to make art (such as
vandalism for example) that will not limit them to just making crafts, paintings, and any other technical
type of artwork.
Its artistic value lies on the freedom of people to express without considering what others think
about your art. This is valuable in a sense that we need to free whenever we make artworks and should
not be affected by the judgments of others. Indeed, the concept was executed well because the
students were able to express art freely.

When I first see this image, I only see a plain black

square with a light blue background. There is no any other figure
formed in this painting.
According to the website, www.wikiart.org, there is no
any visual texture in the painting. What we can only see is a
perfectly symmetrical shape. Well, this only shows that the
image was made plainly with no so much complexity in the
process of making it.
Furthermore, the website mentioned that it was the
paramount of Malevich’s change to pure geometric abstraction
which is suprematism. Suprematism as defined by Merriam
Dictionary, it is a movement in Russia in 20th century producing Black Square
abstract works featuring flat geometric forms. With this, simplicity By Kazimir Malevich
is what the artist trying to say, that we do not need so much complexity in the process to consider it as an
artwork. Perhaps, the color black may tell us the emotion of grief, sadness, or death.
The artistic value of this painting lies basically on our psychology, on how we perceive things. It
is valuable in a sense that it teaches our minds to be free of Ad Populum; that we should consider an
artwork as an art if it was made by an individual regardless of the complexity of the process of making it.
Thus, being plain does not mean that an artwork is not an art, hence, if it tells you something (to be
simple), that would be one of the good consideration of the meaning of art.
Bibliography
Black Square. (n.d.). Retrieved October 3, 2017 from https://www.wikiart.org/en/kazimir-
malevich/black-square-1915

I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art. (n.d.). Retrieved October 3, 2017 from
https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/john-baldessari-i-will-not-make-any-more-boring-art-
1971

Rene Magritte. (n.d.). Retrieved October 3, 2017, from http://www.theartstory.org/artist-magritte-

rene.htm

Suprematism. (n.d.). Retrieved October 2, 2017, from https://www.merriam-

webster.com/dictionary/suprematism

The treachery of images (This is not a pipe). (n.d.). Retrieved October 3, 2017, from
https://www.wikiart.org/en/rene-magritte/the-treachery-of-images-this-is-not-a-pipe-1948