Title: This Is Not a Pipe
First published: August 16, 1983
Description: What does it mean to write "This is not a pipe" across a bluntly literal painting of a pipe? René Magritte's famous canvas provides the starting point for a delightful homage by French philosopher and historian Michel Foucault. Much better known for his incisive and mordant explorations of power and social exclusion, Foucault here assumes a more playful stance. By exploring the nuances and ambiguities of Magritte's visual critique of language, he finds the painter less removed than previously thought from the pioneers of modern abstraction.
Subjects: surrealism, philosophy, History Of Art / Art & Design Styles, Painting & paintings, History & Surveys - Modern, Art & Art Instruction, Magritte, Rene,, History - General, Art / General, 1898-1967, Art, Magritte, Renâe,, Magritte, René, 1898-1967, Magritte René / Der Verrat der Bilder, Magritte, René, Kunst, Filosofische aspecten, Ästhetik, Belgian paintings Magritte, René - Critical studies, Magritte, rene, 1898-1967, Art, philosophy, Criticism and interpretation, 21.02 history of painting, 20.02 philosophy and theory of the art sciences
People: René Magritte (1898-1967)