February meeting

At their February meeting Truro Art Society was treated to an exceptional talk concerning the work of that extraordinary surrealist painter Rene Magritte. With the aid of many colour slides, the speaker, Dr. Mark Thackeray, gave members a wonderful insight into the “Alice in Wonderland” world of this iconoclastic artist. In the face of criticism throughout his life, this single-minded painter produced a bizarre world of everyday imagery that was never quite what it seemed.The turbulent times during which he flourished, comprising two world wars and the depression years, go some way to explaining his life-long mission: namely to show the viewer that the life of order, stability and comfort we all seek, is nothing but an illusion and that it is rather more important to ask questions than to seek answers. This life of complacency is personified by Magritte’s bowler-hatted man, whose face we never see in his paintings, but perhaps that is because he is too frightened to ask the questions.