The Human Condition II

Words: 255
Pages: 2

Abstraction "evoked experience", Expressionism evoked emotion, and Surrealism, as Rene Magritte explains, "evoke[d] mystery". He believes that surrealist art has no meaning, simply because surrealism is mystery, and mystery is unknowable. His painting The Human Condition II, 1935 perfectly illustrates this belief. The canvas is transparent. It is merely a painting of the ocean view. A viewer could spend hours searching for a hidden meaning only to left at a loss. Magritte considers the reason why the mind loves mystery is because "...the mind itself is unknown". Surrealist art is whimsical and dreamlike. The first Surrealists were liberated from art styles of their past. Similarly, abstract artists also strayed away from traditional art forms.