RENE MAGRITTE

(1898-1967)

Rene Magritte was born in 1898 in Belgium. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels. He was a designer in a wallpaper factory. At the age of 40, he became a full-time painter. He was known for transforming his figures in his paintings. Normal paintings would suddenly look very strange, as he would introduce objects that would not fit in with the background. He would also transform objects from one object to another. He was quoted as saying "the invisible is only the visible hidden."

In virtual reality, places can be built that don't physically exist in the real world. Places can also be built of real world experiences that don't really exist. Magritte can be thought of as a virtual artist. He works with mysterious spaces where people and objects blend back and forth with each other. In his painting "Time Transfigured " 1938, a train floats out of a fireplace.

One of the main purposes of a virtual traveler is to achieve a goal so that he can get to another world. In Magritte's art apples float, paintings become windows, rocks become people and people become rocks. He forms hidden meaning in everyday objects.

These are several of the devices Magritte used to transform his worlds that he painted on canvas:

• Levitation-He would make objects float.

• Scale-changing the normal size of an object.

• Juxtaposing-forcing two images together in impossible combinations.

• Dislocation-placing an object from one environment into another environment.

• Transparency-paintings become windows.

• Transformation-objects are changed in front of us..

You become engaged mentally in Magritte art, just as you would in a virtual reality world.

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