In Praise of Dialectics and Surrealism

Rene Magritte -In praise of Dialectics 1937

The Magritte painting appealed to me in a formal sense. I liked the way it was cropped and it's neat,  tight arsed painting style looked pretty good to me at the time.  It's austere, controlled air was cool and otherly. Having said  that,  i suspected that  it  conveyed something of the personality of the artist.
 I don't much like thick drippy expressionist paintings and liked them even less in 1987.
 
At that timethe painting was displayed in a crappy little gallery in the European art section of the NGV right next to an entrance to another gallery. It was far from the best location for any painting but this painting  still stayed with me regardless. On the way out I went to the NGV book shop to purchase a post card of the Magritte but there wasn't one available.

At some stage in the following days I painted my open door pic. I remember it was a hot warm day and I was impressed at how fast the acrylic paint dried. Looking at it now it is so very flat and lifeless. The Magritte, in comparison, has the illusion of depth and space that pulls one's eyes into the picture.  That illusionistic spacial depth coupled with the pull of the doorway of the small building  inside the window,  holds my gaze  every time I check out  that painting when I go to the NGV. On more than one visit I  have been compelled to return to that painting for one more look before I leave.

I subsequently made a point of learning more about Magritte and also Surrealism. 
And, of course Dali