Rene Magritte- The Empire of Light – Guggenheim Museum
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Life obliges me to do something, so I paint.
–Rene Magritte
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I wasn’t sure what this post was going to be about when I started. Still don’t know, to be honest. I was simply going to put up a short quote with a painting or two by an artist, as I sometimes do. In this case the artist was the famed Surrealist Rene Magritte.
I liked the quote above. Simple. Concise. Right to the point.
Plus, I think it lines up with an answer that I sometimes give when someone asks how I became a painter. I will answer, “Hey, everybody has to do something.”
That opens up what could be a whole philosophical discussion about what our obligations really are in our lives as humans.
Are we really obliged to do something?
I don’t know.
Maybe. I guess not doing something is, in it’s own way, doing something. I know that when I am not a painter I am, among many things, sometimes a lazy slob.
Life obliges me to do something, so I do nothing.
That doesn’t have quite the same cache as Magritte’s statement but it is sometimes true.
But for the most part, when life obliges me to do something, I paint.
Not like Magritte. In my own way, at my own pace and of my own choosing.
Hey, life can push me around but only so far.
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PS: I was going to write about the painting at the top which is one version of a painting, The Empire of Light, that Magritte painted fourteen times. The subject was not going to be about the night scene of this painting with a blue sky above. Rather, it was to be about the repetition of forms by artists, a subject to which I am well acquainted. Maybe next time.
Now, let’s look at some other Magritte paintings.
Rene Magritte- Decalcomania – 1966
Rene Magritte- The Mysteries of the Horizon 1928
Rene Magritte- The Son of Man 1964
Rene Magritte- The Beautiful Relations 1966
Redtree Times 
I’ve somehow missed The Empire of Light. I really like it. What’s odd is that I didn’t notice the blue sky until I read your post a second time, came across your reference to it, and went back for another look. Before that, if someone had asked me about the painting, I would have sworn it was a night scene, and that the sky was dark.
It took me awhile to notice that as well.
Thank you for this beautiful post and your insightful thoughts on artistic expression! ✨
Magritte is my favourite artist! I consider ”The Treachery of Images”, ”Not to be Reproduced” and ”The Lovers” universal masterpieces, as well as his less known works, such as ”La Terre de Feu” and ”The Secret Double”
I’ve just finished writing a piece comparing his signature style to Joyce’s literary innovation in ”A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.”