Blog Task - Les Valeurs Personelles (Personal Values), by Rene Magritte
Friday, July 20, 2012♥
11:20 PM

Personal Values, Rene Magritte, 1952, Belgium.
Everyone has their own set of values; things which we prioritise, items we hold close to our hearts. In this work 'Personal values', Magritte has depicted his own set of personal values in the form of a surrealist painting as seen above.

Description

In this painting, Magritte illustrates a scene of a bedroom.

The work is in predominantly cool colours due to the wallpaper of skies and clouds. At first sight, the bedroom looks mundane with the typical wooden bed and cupboard each at the left and right side of the room respectively. The cupboard however has a mirror that reflects a small window at the other end of the room not visible to us from this perspective.

What would capture the viewer's attention to the strangeness of this painting is the size of the various objects lying around the room. there is an oversized brown comb resting on the bed with its tip almost in contact with the ceiling. There is a blusher/shaving brush that can be found on the wardrobe. There is also a round bar of soap the size of a coffee table in front of the wardrobe. In the middle of the room, there is a translucent turqoise wine glass. It's height is unrealistically as tall as the wardrobe and it has a abnormally large match stick right next to it where it is situated next to the bed.

As a whole this work shows us a mundane scene of a bedroom, made interesting by the unusual sizes of the various everyday objects lying around seemingly random around the room, in a balanced composition.

Analysis

The painting has a photorealistic quality. All the details in the painting seem to have been painted on meticulously with brushstrokes so fine that we can barely see its traces. The details, patterns and prints seem to have been painted in utmost precision. Such could have been done to further emphasize how normal and realistic every is, yet shocking the viewers by blowing up the various objects, creating a sense of doubt to the viewer whether the objects are just extraordinarily huge or if the bedroom itself is in fact in a minute scale.

Furthermore, contrary to what other surrealists painter does, such as Dali, he does not involve himself in fantasies, rather he makes use of manipulation of scale of objects to create the dream-like and unusual effect that deems the work surreal.

Interpretation

The wallpapers of clouds and sky could possibly be an ironic element in this painting. While the room is bounded by the four sides of the wall, the wallpaper creates an illusion such that creates a sense of space, as if the room is suspended in the sky, representing freedom. This could be symbolic of our own mindsets and values. While we may believe that we can have any sorts of values that we can deem ours, they are always bounded by an inconspicuous boundary that we may be unaware of, yet we do not cross it.

The scene of the bedroom itself is symbolic of own's inner state of mind. In the tangible world, the only place where we probably feel the safest, with the greatest sense of belonging and identity is probably our own bedroom.

Magritte has made use of each of the objects to represent his own personal values.

Comb:
This probably represents how he prioritises the need to be kept neat and presentable to public eyes. It is also a comment on middle class life and conventionality.

Soap:
This would undoubtedly symbolise personal hygiene as a part of his personal values.

Match Stick:
Being next to the bed, it involves a French pun which hints at sexual desires.

Wine Glass:
Could possibly refer to alcoholic pleasure

Judgement

In trying to portray his own set of personal values in his work, I feel that Magritte had done a successful job in bringing this across. The items he had picked were symbolic and easy to relate to its meaning due to the realistic representation. Furthermore, he had scaled up the various objects as if it was in direct proportion towards how much he values it. Apart from this reason, the scaled up objects also serve as a subject of attention for viewers as they would be hooked on to the painting at first by the oddness of the painting. Only then would they pay sufficient attention to decipher the various symbols and make sense out of the work, which deems the work successful in relaying its message.

My Personal Values
In response to Magritte's work, I went on to explore my own personal values and eventually came up with a sketchy sketch as shown above. Admittedly, it lacks Magritte's professionalism in form and painting..
Nevertheless, this depicts some of the items I find that is core in my own set of Personal Values.

Bed
Sleep. The bed represents the need for rest and relaxation which I personally find essential to our lives. If we never stop working, to let ourselves recover, it then has adverse impacts on what we strive to achieve.

Watch
This is a watch I have worn for nearly four years now. The watch naturally represents time. While time is intangible, I had used a watch to symbolise its importance to my life. Life is hectic sometimes, there are simply too little time for the many things we have to accomplish out of responsibility and desire. Life, is actually rather short. Hence time ought to be treasured and valued.

Key
My house key symbolises a sense of belonging and home which everyone should deserve and need for a place to belong in. Also, it represents my sense of security.

Spectacles
As someone who has short-sightedness, I can never leave my spectacles for long. While I can still technically see what is around me, reading minute letters are beyond me. Without my spectacles,I won't be able to read, draw or see things in detail. The thought of losing that can be frightening. It is just how much I value my sight.

Wooden Drawing Model/Pencil
The Wooden Drawing Model and Pencil both represents my passion towards art. While the Drawing Model tells of my preference in figure drawing/drawing of humans, the pencil is there in place of even a paint brush because it was the first tool I had picked up for art making.

Hanging Dress
Needless to say, the hanging dress symbolises my passion towards fashion and perhaps hints at my vanity. It also shows the import I place on being well dressed and presentable, in a fashionable manner. It is purposefully placed near the Wooden drawing model and pencil to show how closely I place art and fashion, I see fashion as art and art can be made into fashion.

Mirror
While this could be a prime indicator of my feminine vanity, this mirror is mostly to represent my value on reflection. Often, I see a need to reflect back on my past actions and the mirror can also be a form of mimic, where this part of me may subconsciously mimic another....

With that, my seven 'values' had been haphazardly strewn across the room aside from those purposefully placed as mentioned. This itself reflects my not-so-tidy nature, where I see beauty in disorder.

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