René Magritte, The Lovers, oil on canvas, France ca. 1928, The Museum of Modern Art, New York. René Magritte’s works both shock and promote exploration. One of these is The Lovers. Extremely scandalous for its time, this piece shows Magritte’s extraordinary personality and ambitions for his art. Thought of as unsettling, The Lovers is the first of a collection of four variants of Les Amants that were painted in 1928. He invokes the emotions of a cinematic experience. While portraying a close-up kiss often seen in movies from the period, it destabilizes society’s common thought. Both individuals in the piece hold faces tightly covered in cloth. The usage of a wrapped veil, concealing both identities, relates to a common Surrealist interest and focus on masks and what truly lies beneath the surfaces seen as a cover. The exaggerated piece may relate to the illustrations paired with thriller stories, which Paul Nougé, Magritte’s friend, encouraged him to emulate in a letter sent to him from 1927.
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