René Magritte is a Belgian artist and one of the most influential members of the surrealist movement. Famous for his illusionistic images defying the viewer's preconceived notions of reality, Magritte's semiotic paintings are witty and ironic, his most popular being La betrayal des images (This is not a pipe) (1929), executed in a style realistic.

Born René François Ghislain Magritte on November 21, 1898 in Lessines, Belgium, the artist later moved to Brussels to study at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. His interest in avant-garde art is piqued when he sees a photo of the painting The Song of Love (1914) by  Giorgio de Chirico , who, with  Max Ernst , influences the artist.

He gets involved in surrealism through collaborations with  André Breton ,  Man Ray ,  Yves tanguy  and  Paul Éluard . Magritte reached a level of notoriety within French artistic circles and then internationally in 1948 with the help of the famous New York art dealer Alexander Iolas and reached his peak in the 1960s. Then at the height of his popularity, he died on August 15, 1967 in Brussels at the age of 68 from pancreatic cancer.