René Magritte

René François Ghislain Magritte, born 1898, died 1967, was a Belgian surrealist artist. He became famous for his witty and thought-provoking images.

Magritte’s work frequently displays a collection of ordinary objects in an unusual context, giving new meanings to familiar things. The use of objects as other than what they seem is typified in his painting The Treachery of Images (La Trahison des images), which shows a pipe that appears to be an advertisement for a tobacco store. Beneath the pipe, Magritte wrote “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” (“This is not a pipe”). Although an apparent contradiction, this is actually true: the painting is not a pipe, but an image of a pipe.

”Chez Léon” has paid tribute to his memory by naming one of its classic dishes “This is not a Mussel”.