Kai Yuen talks on René Magritte: Time Transfixed (1938)

Time Transfixed was printed by Rene Magritte in 1938, it is an oil printing. Actually, it is quite large in size, which are around 57.7/8 in. × 38.7/8 in. Edward James paid for this painting and he also paid for several surrealism artists. Magritte is one of them.

Surrealism is an art movement began in France in the 20^th century. It was developed from Dada. The name of surrealism is come from the essay published by Andre Breton, “Manifeste Du Surréalisme”, in 1924 and he forms a group of artists called Surrealists. Magritte is one of the members.

Surrealism highlights the pure creation of mind, it means that you just depict the idea come out from your mind no matter it make sense or not. It is all about imagination, just like this painting. The sense is real but strange, just like our dream. That’s why it is called surreality which means absolute reality. Surrealism aims to explore the subconscious, subconscious is something hidden in our mind but it will affect our character and attitude.

Then I would like to describe the art work in detail. It looks realistic and still. Actually, Magritte is deeply influenced by Giorgio de Chirico as he was inspired by his artwork “The song of love”. For example, the dislocation, which means put the unrelated objects together, such as the combination of clock and train, it is from Chirico’s artwork “The Philosopher’s Conquest”. The smooth brushstroke, outlines and strong shadow and the juxtaposition of train and fireplace is also in his style. Juxtaposition means putting two objects together in parallel. Besides of this, Magritte put the train in the fireplace to create the feeling that the train is just passing through the tunnel and arrive it is station-the dining room fireplace. Also, train come out form the vent of the fireplace inside the fireplace. It seems that the smoke of the train is actually produced by the fire. Putting the incompatible objects with similar features together is an interesting mixture. The scale of train is modified by Magritte to an unusual size to fit inside the fireplace. Mirror is an element often used in his paintings. The reflection of the mirror is quite strange as it doesn’t show the rest of room. The reflection of the right candlestick is also omitted. Some art critics also point out the clock symbolize time and the candlestick symbolize wisdom. But I think there may be over-interpretation.

Why I chose this work to analyze? It’s because I was immediately attracted by its strange combination of objects, which looks really different from previous work. Personally, I love fantasy since because I can step into imaginative world and I can escape from the bitter life for a second. When I study more deeply in this work, I find Magritte is a really creative artist. I love the idea of putting the fireplace and the locomotive together and make fun with the similarity of them.

There is a key Quota from Magritte on his painting. He said: “I decided to paint the image of a locomotive…. In order for its mystery to be evoked, another immediately familiar image without mystery—the image of a dining room fireplace—was joined.” (Quoted by The art institute of Chicago in May 1997)

It seems that Magritte is really good at creating mystery feeling by putting unusual and dairy objects together.

References:

•      ANDRÉ BRETON, Manifesto of Surrealism, 1924, http://www.tcf.ua.edu/Classes/Jbutler/T340/SurManifesto/ManifestoOfSurrealism.htm

•      Gombrich, E .H., The Story of Art. United Kingdom: Phaidon Press, 1995.

•      Time Art Gallery
http://www.theorderoftime.com/art/timegallery/hall1/timetransfixed.html

•      The art institute of Chicago
http://www.artic.edu/artaccess/AA_Modern/pages/MOD_6.shtml

•      School of  the art institute of Chicago  - Time Transfixed,
http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/citi/resources/Rsrc_001110.pdf

There are two Questions for you to discuss:

•      There are difference analyzes on the artwork. Some art critics even think that he criticized the development of railway in 19^th century by the artwork.

Do you think this image is serious or lighthearted?

•      Actually René simply wanted the painting to create a feeling of mystery in the viewer.

Does it necessary for the artist and viewers to have same idea on an artwork? Should we respect the artist’s original idea or insist on our own opinion?

No matter what you answer for these two questions, it is neither right nor wrong in both cases. Personally, I also think it is actually hard to say which side is better as Surrealism highlighted the unconscious. The artist could just depict the ideas they have without hidden any code in the painting. On the other hand, as it is all about unconscious (subconscious), the artist may tell some inner thought through the depicted image without notice which pointed out by the art critics. Sometimes artist’s original idea can signally different from the viewers.