This is Not a Pipe

In 1929 the masterful surrealist Rene Magritte painted “The Treachery of Images.”

He painted one of the simplest paintings possible, yet it may be his most famous. With this masterpiece, he did the impossible. He opened the eyes of the world.

The painting is simply a brown pipe on a plain yellow background with words in French inscribed below.

"Ceci n'est pas une pipe.”

It looks exactly like a pipe.

But can it be smoked?

The French translates to, “This is not a pipe.” Of course, it’s merely a painting of a pipe!

Magritte famously said, “The famous pipe. How people reproached me for it! And yet, could you stuff my pipe? No, it's just a representation, is it not? So if I had written on my picture ‘This is a pipe’, I'd have been lying!”

If you search “Mona Lisa” on Google Images or see a print of “Mona Lisa” at the store, is it “Mona Lisa”?

No, it’s a representation of Leonardo’s “Mona Lisa”.

There is a treachery of images that the mind interprets, and Magritte reminds the world to question everything.