Magritte rocks my world

Ever since I stumbled upon an incredible Rene Magritte exhibition in 2000, I've considered him one of my favorite artists. Most people only think of Dali when they hear the word "surrealism," and to those people I say, "Wake up!" Sure, Dali is cool to look at but I prefer Magritte and here's why: In my humble opinion, Dali's works do not emanate the same emotional power as Magritte's. I presume both Dali and Magritte were tortured artists, but I feel each one manifests his tortured nature in a different way. While many of Dali's paintings disturb me and leave me with bad feelings, I find Magritte's paintings haunting and touching.


"Les Amants (The Lovers)" by Magritte
All of this talk about Magritte is appearing on my blog today because I finally made it to the Surrealism and Modernism exhibition at The Phillips Collection. Even though the exhibition wasn't sizeable and only contained two of Magritte's paintings, I thought it was quite good. I learned three new things at The Phillips today. First, Henri Rousseau, who had one lovely painting in the exhibition, did not start painting until later in his life (the plaque said 40); this means I still have a chance to be a great painter. Second, I knew I liked the work of Yves Tanguy, and now I know that I also like the work of his final wife, Kay Sage. Lastly, I can now envision a face when I think of Magritte; he was both an amazing artist and a fairly attractive man. Why this is important I can't put into words but it made me happy and that's all that matters. The only thing that pissed me off at the exhibition was when I glanced at the guest book and saw the scrawl, "Need more Dali. Otherwise good show." Arghhhh.

I feel it is only appropriate that I include my top ten artists here. Please keep in mind that this is a list from memory and I reserve the right to change my views at any time.

Top Ten Artists (in no particular order)
10. Rene Magritte
9. El Greco
8. Leonard Freed (photography)
7. Edgar Degas
6. Marc Chagall
5. Sally Mann (photography)
4. Salvador Dali (for "Christ of St John of the Cross")
3. David LaChapelle (photography)
2. Georgia O'Keeffe
1. Robert Rauschenberg