“People who look for symbolic meaning fail to grasp the inherent poetry and mystery of the images.” These words by René Magritte best apply to his own surrealist works, which range from beautiful to absurd. The Lovers, one of his most well-known and most referenced pieces, frames a couple intimately kissing with what appears to be bags over their heads. On the other hand, his The Treachery of Images, depicts a picture of a pipe, though the text underneath insists that it is not a pipe. (Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia.) While the former can be seen as a commentary on love, or a sort of poetic depiction of love as self-destruction, Magritte’s words suggest that it is none of that. Rather, the couple could simply be kissing with bags over their heads. Perhaps, the image of a pipe simply is not a pipe. The true art is in the juxtaposition of it all, of an arrangement of objects and patterns and colors. What is surface level may — and should — be enough for the viewer, and Magritte feels as though the mystery and confusion of his work speaks for itself.
Magritte’s 1927 piece The Menaced Assassin is a painting of suspense and anticipation as the viewer watches a gruesome scene unfold. In the center of the piece, we see a nude corpse. Her killer stands beside her, casually listening to music on a gramophone. Though he doesn’t know it, he’s about to be caught red-handed. Just beyond the room on a balcony, three identical men look on. Just out of the assassin’s sight, two more men hide by the entrance of the room. One holds a club and the other holds a net. In mere moments, the assassin will be caught. However for the time being, the assassin simply listens to music.
The Menaced Assassin, 1927
I wasn’t drawn to The Menaced Assassin at first. Had it not been for the fact that it was the only painting in the gallery that wasn’t flocked by visitors, I likely would have passed by it without a second thought. My friend and I were looking to find paintings by Salvador Dali or maybe a Van Gogh or Picasso. Our end goal was to find a painting that was good enough to write about, then head to the gift shop. However, we stuck around and stared at the painting for a while to let the tour groups pass, and in doing so, I found myself looking deeper into the painting. What I first realized was how sterile the painting felt. What drew the most attention against such a stark background was the corpse, all pale skin and bloody mouth pop against the beige floors and gray walls. I felt that the depiction of the woman was rather crude and unsettling. She doesn’t look limp or lively, but posed and stiff, almost like a mannequin. The way she’s splayed out on the couch feels almost vulgar. The men who surround her are all finely dressed and equally stiff, though they’re all alive.
I called on my friend and forced her to look at the painting with me. She first pointed out what I had already concluded myself — the way the assassin is being watched from all angles, the bleakness of it all. Then, she said something that intrigued me even more. She said that in addition to the assassin being watched by the five men, the viewer is also a witness to his crimes, just as much as the others. They are a threat to the assassin just as much as the men with weapons are and hence, are part of the scene, too. After all, the assassin believes that he has gotten away with murder. He’s left his belongings strewn about the room while he blissfully listens to a record. Unbeknownst to him, he’s got all eyes on him.
I find it interesting how the two men at the front of the painting are looking at each other. Perhaps they’re waiting for a signal from the other or communicating silently. If you look at the triplets however, you’ll notice that their heads are pointing towards the viewer, but their eyes are pointed towards the assassin. For a moment, I thought that they were looking at me, but I then realized that wasn’t the case. However, I do find it interesting that for a moment, it’s almost like the triplets and the viewer are seeing each other, seeing the assassin.
When The Menaced Assassin was being prepared for a gallery at the Museum of Modern Art, technical examinations showed that the painting seemed to have been rushed. (Khan Academy). The painting is oil on canvas (MoMa), with materials dating a hundred years ago. Zinc and commercial paints have aged over the years, giving the painting an almost moldy look. Moreover, these discoveries showed that Magritte had worked quickly in developing the background, yet worked almost meticulously trying to portray all the figures in the painting.
The background of the painting is simple. A gray room, with bare walls and some dark trimming leads the way to the balcony as well as the entrance to the room. Magritte uses lines in the floor to create foreshortening. The floor appears to be hardwood, with dark lines leading to the balcony and drawing the viewer’s eye to the triplets. This also creates a sense of dimension and distance, to separate what feels like the three layers to the painting. First, the one with the twins, where they appear large and are partially out of frame. Perspective-wise, it makes the viewer feel like they are within arm’s reach of the twins. Moving forward in the painting, the assassin and the corpse take up the majority of the painting and appear smaller than the twins. One can almost envision the receding diagonal lines that form between the top of the twins’ heads and the assassin’s. This again gives the illusion of the assassin being further away and naturally leads the viewer’s eye through the painting. At the end of the room and at the very back of the painting, we see the balcony and the triplets. Their tiny heads and the distant mountains seem far-off, yet all the lines and walls seem to lead directly towards them, which I found interesting.
The painting also has an intriguing use of texture, or rather the lack thereof. Most of the forms and objects in the painting seem smooth and polished, ranging from the gramophone to the skin of the people. This only adds to the eerie feel of the painting. Every figure appears almost ghostly. There is little differentiation between skin and fabric and wood when it comes to texture. Additionally, lighting also seems to play an important role in the overall feel of the painting. The only light source seems to come from the balcony, yet every part of the painting is lit the same way. Shadows indicate that there is a light source coming from beyond the painting. Regardless, the low lighting and pale color palette maintains the eerie and sterile feel of the painting, making it feel more like a dream, or perhaps even a nightmare.
Magritte’s artistry was not appreciated. In fact, it would take years before he was able to make a living off of his own art, and even longer before he was accepted and appreciated as a surrealist artist. (Azarenko). Though his art fit the working definition of surrealism The public was weary of his work. Surrealism came at a time of great cultural change, following the first World War, which “spurred a desire to break from tradition and explore new forms of expression.” (Craven). Magritte did just this. His paintings were erotic and dreamlike, and other times unsettling. He captured everyday objects in absurd situations and twisted reality as most people knew it, soon becoming “a leading figure in the visual Surrealist movement”. (Voorhies) His work certainly went against what was considered art before the time of surrealism, which was still heavily influenced by classism. The Menaced Assassin is almost crude in the way it depicts the nude woman and the men surrounding her. There is nothing romantic or visually pleasing about the painting. Rather, it is meant to draw the viewer in and keep them with its unnerving subject matter.
The Menaced Assassin is one of Magritte’s most famous works. It is not an image of extreme violence or eroticism or absurdity, as were common in Surrealism and across his own work. It does not have a great poetic meaning or theme behind it. Rather, it depicts the aftermath of a heinous crime. He manages to convey a sense of unease and suspense with his stiff figures and cool color palette. Though the viewer feels as though they’re in the painting themselves, there’s a great amount of distance between them and what’s really happening, as if they’re watching from afar, or almost like they’re in a dream. Magritte’s artistic skill perfectly captures the moments of suspense before a reckoning; the calm before the storm.
