dc.description.abstract | surrealistic style, as will become evident in this thesis, derives precisely from his
conception and reflection of "the real". To outline Magritte’’s thinking of the real, his
"word paintings"(1927-1930)can be useful information. These "word paintings"
are visible results of his study and experiment on the relationship between "the real"
and "the signs representing the real." Besides, the "word painting" stage is an
important period for Magritte to develop his personal style. Consequently, analyzing
and interpreting Magritte’’s "word painting" is contributive to the recognition of the
characteristics of his surrealistic style. I therefor choose "Magritte’’s word paintings"
as the subject of this thesis.
Studies about "Magritte’’s word paintings" are still growing in the academic circle
and there are few accepted opinions about these works. In this thesis, I try to approach
them in different ways. By juxtaposing and considering simultaneously the questions
relevant to "Magritte’’s word paintings", I will introduce a new perspective for
understanding Magritte’s surrealistic style : "the dialectic structure." The questions
discussed here include "how and why Magritte’’s word paintings appear" , "the
interpretation of Magritte’’s word paintings" , and "the relationship between
Magritte’’s word paintings and his non-word paintings". These three questions are
relevant to one another, and they all involve the character of "the dialectic
structure."
Before 1927, Magritte has been interested in the relationship between "the titles
and the images" as well as the relationship between "the illusionistic spaces and the
real spaces". In Paris, 1927, words begin entering into his paintings. From then on, he
starts to study systematically the relationship between "the real" and "the signs
representing the real". These "word paintings" possess a common form, which can be
regarded as "the universal character of Magritte’’s word paintings," i.e., "the dialectic
structure." When Magritte stops the regular word painting experiments and leaves
Paris in 1930, "the dialectic structure" can still be found, though has been
transformed, in his paintings. "The dialectic structure" has become a noticeable
characteristic of his personal surrealistic styles.
In this thesis, beginning with "word paintings" and terminating with "non-word
paintings", "the dialectic structure" behaves as the axial threads running through the
whole chapters. Finally, I will summarize the uniqueness of Magritte’’s surrealistic
style as follow:the application of "the dialectic structure" enables him to reveal "le
mystere" and "la poesie" of the real. It also enables the coexistence of the elements of
"tradition" and "innovation" in his paintings. "The dialectic structure" bases on
Magritte’’s employment and development of "the polysemy and ambiguity of the
signs". Due to "the polysemy and ambiguity", the signs in Magritte’’s paintings can be
self-dialectic. The "self-dialectic sign" is a main factor that helps to form a humourous
and ironic atmosphere in his paintings, as well as attracts the spectators to produce
diverse imaginations and interpretations of his paintings. | en_US |