Rene Magritte, Intermission - Painting Description

The Belgian surrealist painter René Magritte wrote his "Intermission" back in 1928. What was the deep riddle that the master wanted to convey to each person?

We can observe the ambiguous canvas in the surrealism style painted with oil. First, the viewer gets struck by the human figure details, which, peeked out from various objects, such as the brown cardboard scenery and floor, a blue mountain painting with green polka dots, an olive baize, and a gray brick stage. They seem to be staging a theatrical performance.

However, there are no faces of the artists shown here, but rather the movements of the limbs peeping out. Is that a paradox or more a philosophical subtext, being expressed in the illusion of what is taking place? Was that an attempt of the painter to intentionally mislead his audience? There can be so many questions, but each individual human will find the answers, owing to their thinking and beliefs.

Looking from an art history viewpoint, the experts can analyze the musicality of the composition in a specific rhythm. Unusual legs, shown there, tend to dance, there is a certain dynamics and plasticity present on the picture.

The painting is written in cold colors, with the enhanced gray-green, light blue-blue and beige-yellow tones combined. The picture lacks cheerfulness, bright and warm colors. The artist showed the shadows of objects as gray and blurry, like watercolor, and chose to outline the contour in black.

The work does not breathe with notes of optimism at all; on the contrary, it keeps sadness and a sort of dystopia, and that is especially clear when looking at the yellow parts of the bodies, that reflect the green-blue notes of flowers, creating tension, as well as bringing debilitating melancholy and decadence.