Getty Volume Sheds New Light on the Famous Belgian Surrealist’s Artistic Practice and Materials

René Magritte (1898–1967) is the most famous Belgian artist of the 20th century and a celebrated representative of the Surrealist movement.

Much has been written about his practices, artistic community, and significance within the history of modernism, but little has been documented regarding his process.

René Magritte: The Artist’s Materials (Getty Conservation Institute, $40) examines 50 oil paintings made by Magritte between 1921 and 1967, now held at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium. This technical study of his works using noninvasive scientific imaging and chemical analysis reveals the artist’s painting materials, his habit of overpainting previous compositions, and the origins and mechanisms of surface and pigment degradation. Of interest to conservators, scientists, curators, and enthusiasts of 20th-century art, this book expands our understanding of Magritte the artist and provides new and useful findings that will inform strategies for the future care of his works.