Paul Mellon Lecture: René Magritte and the Art of Seduction

Using perplexing juxtapositions and distortions of commonplace objects, the Belgian Surrealist artist René Magritte set out to disturb existing assumptions about rationality and the perception of reality. This lecture will focus on The Seducer, a mysterious and provocative painting in VMFA’s Mellon collection. Completed in 1950, this work highlights Magritte’s efforts to use his paintings to solve increasingly complex intellectual and pictorial problems in the last two decades of his career.