Le fils de l'homme

Magritte’s ‘Le fils de l’homme’ was painted in 1964. An autoportrait, Magritte paints himself as a man clothed in a coat with a bowler hat, stood in front of a small wall, with the ocean and a cloudy sky sitting in the background. What strikes the viewer most about this painting, however, is the green apple that seemingly floats in the air while concealing a large part of the man’s face. Through the process of willfully obstructing ones view, Magritte sought to explore the tension that exists between plainly visible objects versus objects visible yet hidden. His claim: That we always want to see what it is hidden from us.