Quotes from Rene Magritte

Life obliges me to do something, so I paint.

The mind loves the unknown. It loves images whose meaning is unknown, since the meaning of the mind itself is unknown.

We are surrounded by curtains. We only perceive the world behind a curtain of semblance. At the same time, an object needs to be covered in order to be recognized at all.

Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see.

To be a surrealist means barring from your mind all remembrance of what you have seen, and being always on the lookout for what has never been.

We must not fear daylight just because it almost always illuminates a miserable world.

I like subversive humor, freckles, women's knees and long hair, the laughter of playing children, and a girl running down the street.

The purpose of art is mystery.

Only thought can resemble. It resembles by being what it sees, hears, or knows; it becomes what the world offers it.

Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see, but it is impossible. Humans hide their secrets too well....

Art evokes the mystery without which the world would not exist

Everyday objects shriek aloud.

My painting is visible images which conceal nothing... they evoke mystery and indeed when one sees one of my pictures, one asks oneself this simple question 'What does that mean'? It does not mean anything, because mystery means nothing either, it is unknowable.

The feeling we experience while we look at a picture is not to be distinguished from the picture or from ourselves. the feeling, picture, and ourselves are united in one mystery.