In the style of René Magritte

Rene Magritte is born in 1898 in Belgium. When Magritte is13 his mother commits suicide. She jumps in the river Samber and is found with her dress covering her face. This image has been suggested as the source of several of Magritte's paintings: people hiding their faces with several objects.
In 1924 Magritte became friends with members of a surrealism group in Brussels: André Breton, Joan Miró and Salvador Dalí. They influence Magritte's work.
Magritte gave his paintings a realistic effect of surrealism. He painted simple objects like a pipe, apple or tree, took them out of their ordinary environment and placed them in a special surrounding.
One of Magritte's most famous works is a very realistic painting from a pipe, with the text: Ceci n'est pas une pipe (This is not a pipe). The painting is not a pipe, but rather an image of a pipe. As Magritte himself commented: "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!"
Magritte forces us to think about art by putting us constantly on the wrong track. 

What do you need? 

1. drawing sheet A3 
2. brushes and jar
3. tempera paint
4. (black marker)

Instruction
Show Magritte's work and talk about surrealism. Ask students what they see in those paintings. Talk about realism and show realistic paintings. What are the differences between these two styles? How do you recognize surrealistic art? Show the painting The son of man and tell about the covered faces we'll see in a lot of Magritte's paintings.

What should you do? 

1. Sketch a portrait, just like Magritte did. It doesn't have to be someone special, just a person. 
2. Draw an object to cover the face. It has to be about as large as a face, so a piano or a coin can't be used! 
3. Paint the drawing and background. 
4. Outline the object with a fineliner if you want to let is stand out.

Artworks made by students of grade 6.