René Magritte, The Son of Man and The Visible That is Hidden

René Magritte is a channel favorite. Here's a look at the Son of Man made in 1964.
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#arthistory #art #magritte #videoessay

[@genocidehero9687]

WHY CANT I APPROACH THESE PAINTINGS WITHOUT THINGS CRASHING INTO ME?

[@marcasdebarun6879]

Another great video on Magritte. I am constantly enamoured by his ability to draw in the viewer without any particularly unique style or flourish like other famous painters (not that having that is a bad thing!), relying solely on his own philosophy to carry the work of art. I think it's telling that in his lifetime he always hung around with writers and poets, rather than other painters. Speaking of his philosophy, it's very interesting and I highly recommend "René Magritte and the Art of Thinking" by Lipinski for anyone interested in that aspect of his works. His has a lot in common with phenomenology (the likes of Merleau-Ponty, &c.)

[@paultonacci1026]

Every so often KZbin drops a gem of a new channel in my feed and I'm so fortunate it introduced me to yours! Thank you for thoughtful discussions of these classics.

[@marymarywhyyabuggin]

Interestingly, "the Son of Man" was how Jesus described himself in the bible, so it makes me wonder if the apple, temptation and sin, doesn't keep the viewer separated and unable to clearly see the Son of Man.

[@gnarbeljo8980]

That's also true, and it's responsible for the fig leaf, ie the whole seduction theme humans are obsessed with. The apple itself was in plain view in Eden and uninteresting amongst the fruits of an ignorant paradise until the snake snitched about its true contents, making it seductive bc what you don't know, you'd like to find out. What's interesting with Magrittes paintings is the many interpretations or variations of them aren't exclysive of the others. So again, there's alot more going on than first meets the eye.

[@julelemaitre]

I also like the idea that information, knowledge or intellectualisation can separate you from seeing the spiritual, the sensational. Truely only a great work of art with only a title, a man and an apple can leave us with so many interesting interpretations

[@destructoooo]

The painter said himself it wasn't religious.

[@marymarywhyyabuggin]

@@destructoooo isn't art wonderful? There are endless ways viewers may interpret it :)

[@destructoooo]

@@marymarywhyyabuggin Even when the creator said it isn't so? Yes of course after hearing that, one can still interpret however he/she likes.

[@gregothy9190]

I might venture a term. The obscured. Instead of visible or invisible, it's about the visible being covered, rather than made invisible.

[@jayfolk]

👆

[@Velociferon]

He has always been my favorite artist and inspired me to paint.

[@SennaiDB]

Wow, it inspires me seeing people analyse masterpieces with such carefulness. You really are a genius.

[@tomaszskowronski1406]

my favorite interpretation was always that its a man about to be hit in the face by an apple

[@richardlopez2932]

What if it's about the apple?

[@HugoBastennn]

Great video, thanks. Love Magritte too, he is a great influence on my work.

[@user-od7lf5yh1y]

Excellent. Thank you.

[@gregothy9190]

Crazy how these videos aren't popping off more (they should be 😤)

[@korablina8310]

Thanks for talking about this extraordinary artist! I absolutely love your analysis. It actually made me look back at some of his other works. The two versions of "The great war". One of them is shown in the video, the other one is almost the exact copy of "The son of man". The most notable difference between the latter two is the face. In "The son of man" we can see a glimpse of a face while in the other one it's covered. I think Magritte had this idea of a "war" between "the hidden" and "the seen" and was looking for the best way to communicate it. In the first version of "The Great war" he teases us by using our associations. The hidden face of a woman just has to be as beautiful as her dress and a bouquet of flowers covering it, right? Or is it the opposite and the artist just misleads us? We'll never know. The "seen" makes the "hidden" so much more intriguing. But maybe he'd thought he'd shown to much. And thus the second version of "The Great War" was born. Now, however he has given the audience too little to make us care, "the conflict" wasn't strong enough. With "The Son of Man" he decides to leave the "generic man" as he is but show a little more of his face. Finally Magritte finds a perfect balance of "the hidden" and "the seen" creating on of the most influential art works of the 20th century. This, of course, is just my take. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure in which order the paintings were made. All of them are dated 1964 but it's hard to tell which one came first. Still, I wanted to share my conclusions and hear some other thoughts from fellow Magritte lovers☺️

[@adrianbourceanu9145]

An exceptional take on a classical Magritte painting! I am always taken aback by the brevity and articulateness of your videos.

[@phoenix666xx]

Iv seen this painting up close its amazing

[@pugedaairagaylea.5352]

great analysis! love this channel 💗

[@Kiro6666]

Magritte is a Masterful Artist Great Art pieces leave me spellbound and speechless incredibly creative and talented artist

[@buddhahoo1]

This is wonderful. Thank you.

[@xyz1087]

great video!!! Magritte is one my all time favorite artists! :))

[@tamedthethreebears]

These are perfect little nuggets in my day ! Thank you for these ☺️

[@nel.ns__]

Really appreciate your work. The content and the way you describe it are wonderful. Videos you made enhance my interest to art, and also inform me keywords worthy to dig into. Thanks a lot. I'm a students from Taiwan. If there are any grammer mistakes or wrong words, please ignore them :)

[@TheInkPitOx]

Fascinating. Very fascinating.

[@carolynr570]

Brilliant analysis!!

[@monagorgan7288]

awesome video! can't wait for the pipe one

[@liammcooper]

Diderot had a story called "Ceci n'est pas un conte" which I always felt inspired Magritte, but I don't see it mentioned in analyses of his works (except in the wiki articles which i edited myself)

[@ricseeds4835]

You FEEL it inspired Magritte or you KNOW it inspired Magritte? Don't be passing off your feelings as facts without proof

[@stefanstern3542]

Excellent!!!

[@bradgeiken1157]

Appreciated!

[@mahdi5796]

Great video. I like your storytelling. Maybe its a good idea to add more context for each painying? Indeed you made ne wanting to know more about it 😀 subscribed,please keep up the goodwork

[@ingridllinas5612]

Indeed. He leaves the viewers wanting to know more. They might seem something and they are too far away from our conception. His paintings seduce the viewers due to his way of revealing some details, but at the same time another element appears in the painting, as something mysterious or unrevealing. A powerful reason to continue admiring and comprehend Magritte.

[@Sinnamonie]

The way he makes these video essays reminds me of the essays I would write for my AP art history class lmao, the circular hyper analysis for the sake of it, with a sprinkle of bs in there ;)

[@purpleYamask]

I've heard a friend describe The Son Of Man as "hitting the same neurological impulse as youtube clickbait", and while that may be downplaying the art somewhat, I can't agree more. Curiosity.

[@ecd992]

Terrific video as always. Can you do a video on carnival evening by Henri Rousseau?

[@Corvid-Conquest]

Is there a way to support your work without using Patreon?

[@CuriousRobinKnows]

Watching the videos is already a form of support (:v

[@em84c]

Watching the videos, subscribing and commenting on the videos

[@jayfolk]

*Like, comment, subscribe, ring the bell for notifications, copy the link and share to socials or your KZbin channel’s community tab (unlocked after 1 week of having 500 subs).*

[@miscellaneoussarnian5282]

Hup Oh, the power to be strong And the wisdom to be wise All these things will come to you in time On this journey that you're making There'll be answers that you'll seek And it's you who'll climb the mountain It's you who'll reach the peak Son of Man, look to the sky Lift your spirit, set it free Someday you'll walk tall with pride Son of Man, a man in time you'll be Though there's no one there to guide you No one to take your hand But with faith and understanding You will journey from boy to man Son of Man, look to the sky Lift your spirit, set it free Someday you'll walk tall with pride Son of Man, a man in time you'll be In learning you will teach And in teaching you will learn You'll find your place beside the ones you love Oh, and all the things you dreamed of The visions that you saw Well, the time is drawing near now It's yours to claim it all Son of Man, look to the sky Lift your spirit, set it free Someday you'll walk tall with pride Son of Man, a man in time you'll be Ooh Ooh, yah-oh Ooh, yah-oh Ooh, yah-oh Ooh Son of Man Son of Man's a man for all to see

[@msalazar413]

Notice how the slightly visible man’s eyes are also looking UP towards the apple? So even he sees that which the viewer cannot see: the back side of the apple.

[@Sandra-hc4vo]

yes good way to put it.

[@grungekitty77]

Speaking of the contrast between visual and invisible, I noticed one hand is plain to see and the other is completely hidden in shadow.

[@AutomaTom1939]

Oddly enough, the subject's left arm is actually bending the wrong way--you can see an elbow pushing against the front of the coat sleeve, though the hand is oriented normally. Not sure if that symbolizes anything, or if it's just Magritte being cheeky. :)

[@nhatbui8925]

Imma be honest the Visible and Invisible part fried my only brain cell

[@comrade3813]

did you ever notice his left arm is bent backwards

[@artfulaspie9775]

I agree with the premises you talk about until you are stuck on a plane, train, or other with some sticky beak who is going to find out about you, the real you. I don't even know me, so why should others need to know? Good video well presented, nice voice too. Cheers

[@Kiro6666]

The green apple is a Granny Smith apple it’s stuff straight out strong and pointed

[@vance5466]

still confused on the correlation between the Apple being in the man’s face and human psychology

[@mysteriousfun4759]

the host of the canvas looks like Jason Mimoa

[@avivastudios2311]

This painting is really sad. It's basically saying that humans will never be able to get rid of the temptation (the apple) that's blocking our view.

[@Harsht8]

❤

[@AnTran-zs8ny]

For me it represents the conflict between logic thinking and intuition. We know, base on logic, that behind the apple is a man face, but the intuitive part provokes an uneasy feeling beyond what we believe.

[@orestes1984]

This is an almost perfect interpretation, it hides knowledge, but does it hide knowledge? It brings Wittgenstein up who I assume as a contemporary Magritte would have known about. Assuming like the beetle in the box, there is a beetle there, we know that it is a beetle, we know there is a beetle in the box, but do we have the same information? Magritte teases us with the reality, that it is: 1. The son of man, but what would the son of man look like? We don't have the information.... to know what the son of man is we would have to have a true interpretation of a picture of Jesus, we do not have that information, and therefore Jesus looks different to all of us... 2. The treachery of business. Capitalism is problematic and the apple is eluding from the fact that capitalism is sinful when it leads to the greed (hence collecting the apple). 3. The tree of knowledge. Knowledge may be considered sinful when used for the wrong reasons. 4. The failure of man for eating the forbidden fruit, and therefore committing the original sin, and continuing it through the collection of capital. But most notably the son of man, masked by the apple, it's a reference to the point, we are all apparently, the children of god, but what is god? Behind the mask of lack of knowledge, anyone could be the son of god, who was the true son of god? The bible at this point doesn't leave us with enough information to ever know who the son of god actually was as a person. By the koinic Greek interpretation we all carry with us a piece of god... who was Jesus really? No one actually knows other than the facts that he existed. The mask itself of the apple is evocative, it can be anyone and no one at the same time, but without the whole picture it is all of us. That's what's evocative about this painting, it could literally be any human being on the earth, and that is the beauty in itself of a mask.

[@anonymousantonet]

So youre saying he rizzed us all up? (I havent eatch the video, im just judging based on the thumbnail)

[@Zianenzo]

I wonder what happens if you use an A.I and remove the apple

[@JPTHRICE]

its a painting of something that is partially visible, there is nothing actually behind (painting of) the apple

[@Kiro6666]

I purchased a t shirt with Magritte the man in the bowler hat Masterful Masterpiece I know it’s not an Original but MoMa sales the t shirt’s at $29.00!!!!!+tax

[@DeadWhiteButterflies]

I heard recently of some AI Art dum-dum generating an image of Son of Man with the apple removed, and I honestly died a little inside. They COMPLETELY missed the point of the apple being there. Also it sucked to look at.

[@Lazarus_Cardinalis]

I think the treachery of images makes an even bolder, hidden statement. The word ceci, formed of ce and ici, would most correctly translate into "this here" or "this right here". Why are we, then, making a connection between the text and the drawing in the first place? It doesn't say "the thing above is not a pipe", "this right here" might apply to the text itself, who are we to say? It challenges ontology, mental shortcuts and linguisitc conventions so beautifully

[@richardlopez2932]

What if it's about the apple?

[@goofyaahratproductions5580]

Wonder of U

[@howtubeable]

Ce n’est pas une vidéo.

[@maxrolland3148]

Ceci n’est pas un commentaire.

[@archaic1]

real

[@democratictotalitariansoci1462]

No matter how much you wasted your time for explanation, that's still just a gentleman who's being hit in face with apple. Certain people are desperate to see faces where there are no faces.

[@SawII565]

Images are only representations.

[@corrinflakes9659]

Umm... so, personally... this is the first time this has happened, so I'm a bit surprised. Only a centimeter away... I mean, I don't think there's ever been someone who's gotten that close to me... without a, you know... calamity occurring. I'm not really... not really sure what happens at one centimeter away... 'cause it's my first time. I don't really understand it either. Seriously. But in the flow of calamity... there's nobody who can attack me. Not a single person. That, I know for sure. Golconda of U.

[@7p7m7]

🙌

[@r0bw00d]

I've never been interested in this painting--I considered the artist to be a freak, blew the painting off, and moved on with my life. The only reason why I'm watching this video is because of my thirst for knowledge and, given what I've heard, I'm still not impressed.

[@danielhughes441]

Why do mispronounce so many of the artists’ names in your videos?

[@maxrolland3148]

He actually pronounce the names pretty well. He pronouned Magritte and Napoléon the french way as it should be.

[@atossamasumpour6834]

did you just say Magritte is sexy?

[@anAeijingBuffoon]

An amazing way of saying water is wet, the sky is blue, there’s a lot of sand on the beach, seawater is salty and the sun is hot. Politicians do that all the time, with a straight face, like it’s breaking news.

[@bobshelley9468]

Oh, puke..................

[@VDL1]

Magritte and Descarte make me feel bad about being a Rene that makes really shitty rap music