Tuesday 22/9/20 - The Great War

The painting that stood out to me was Rene Magritte's 'The Great War'. I've taken an interest in his work multiple times before however what made this piece stand out to me in this case was the title and how it initially didn't feel like it fit the actual subject of the painting.

The art piece is named La Grande Guerre which is the French Translation of World War One "the great war". Rene Magritte lived in Belgium and spoke French, He lived in Hainaut which is a province of Wallonia which was wealthy during the Industrial Revolution as it had extensive deposits of Coal and Iron.

It features a fairly well-dressed woman standing in-front of a wall with the ocean and sky being the majority of the background. Her face is covered by purple flowers, keeping her identity completely hidden. The actual meaning behind it is very different to what it seems. Rene Magritte was influenced to by his experiences during both world wars to create this, it also gave him the opportunity to think over the idea of a third world war. The woman is considered a metaphor for war and the glorification of it, especially during both the first and second world war. The beautiful and very opulent clothing represents the concept of propaganda, how wars were decorated with glory to entice people into joining up. The painting also shares a lot of resemblence to Son of man, another piece by Rene.

Her unknown identity acts as the harsh truth to war, hidden behind some flowers. With the context of the way she is dressed you are led to believe she is beautiful much like the clothing, this is a good representation of the misleading portrayal of war. Her face is war itself, hidden behind the pretty lies where one is led to believe there is beauty when in actuality that couldn't be further from the truth.

Another interpretation is that since World War two there was a increase of unemployment as their economy declined. This caused a big divide between classes and the flowers in front of the women's face might be indicative of the class divide as it makes the viewer think that her outfit are more important than her face as wealth was commonly viewed through outfits.

Personally I feel like this painting is a really creative approach to an artisitic portrayal of war, especially the propaganda and glorification side of things. It turns a seemingly innocent and unrelated painting into an accurate depiction of how people have changed the depiction of war so that it seems almost beautiful and takes way from the horrors.

References

Masterworksfineart.com. n.d. René Magritte, The Great War (La Grande Guerre), 1964, Series 1, Lithograph (S). [online] Available at: <https://www.masterworksfineart.com/artists/rene-magritte/lithograph/la-grande-guerre-the-great-war-1964-series-1-2/id/w-3848> [Accessed 22 September 2020].

Renemagritte.org. n.d. The Great War, 1964 By Rene Magritte. [online] Available at: <https://www.renemagritte.org/the-great-war.jsp> [Accessed 22 September 2020].