Pioneering Surrealist Rene Magritte (1898 – 1967) masterfully mixed wit with illusion. Initially designing wallpaper, posters and advertisements, Magritte utimately received a gallery contract that enabled him to paint full time. He surmounted early, scathing criticism of his work eventually winning over critics and profoundly impacting the art world. Magritte often blocked a subject’s face with a suspended object to challenge human assumptions about the unknown, and placed ordinary objects in unusual contexts to give new meaning to familiar things. Magritte’s work experienced a resurgence in popularity during the 1960s, remaining enigmatic, thought-provoking and highly influential.