René Magritte, the magician of enigmatic images, is one of the key figures of the art of the 20th century. The SCHIRN is devoting a solo show to the great Belgian surrealist that highlights his relationship to the philosophy of his day. Magritte did not see himself as an artist, but rather as a thinking person, who conveyed his thoughts through painting. His entire life he sought to find a form of expression equal to that of language. His curiosity and affinity with great contemporary philosophers such as Michael Foucault resulted in a remarkable oeuvre, which is shown in a new light through over 70 works.

Organized in cooperation with the Centre Pompidou, Musée national d’art moderne, Paris, the exhibition illuminates the key visual images that are concerned with the myth of invention and the definition of painting – and demonstrate the painter’s suspicion of simple answers and simple realism. On display are masterpieces from important international museums and collections including Musée Magritte in Brussels, the Kunstmuseum Bern, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Menil Collection in Houston, the Tate in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne and the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.